The Mandible in the Sky
by Stitch54
Summary: A Night Fury has sat waiting on a cliff for ten years, waiting for its partner to return. The villagers are running out of ideas. The last if not crazy one is to bring the partner back. Time to bring Bones back to Berk. DISCONTINUED.
1. The Lone Dragon

**Story:** The Mandible in the Sky

**Author:** Stitch 54

**Timeline: **Thousand years after 'How to Train Your Dragon', and somewhere in fifth season of Bones before 'Witch in the Wardrobe'.

**Disclaimer: **I own neither Bones or 'How to Train Your Dragon'

* * *

My name is Bart. I'm not yellow and have spiky hair and shout 'Aye Curumba' every so often. I'm not even American, never been to the country for a matter of fact. I'm sixteen years old, and my dad thinks I have an attitude problem. Well, that just about describes every teenager on this planet. I have short spiky ginger hair, the best shade in the world, and the other guys say that the girls think my blue eyes are dreamy. Unlike most boys my age that you might find around the world, I'm not interested in girls. There are some girls yes that I do, you know, like, but at this point in my life, there are other things that have peaked my interest.

I live in the most remote place on the Earth, Berk, an island out somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic ocean, with a population of about five hundred continually on the island. We have the few former inhabitants visit once in a while, but the island just cannot cope with any more. The thing about Berk, aside from the crap weather we get, is our pets. Other places have dogs, cats, hamsters, you know, like normal people. In Berk however, we have dragons: real living dragons that fly around in the sky and breathe fire.

Some may call them a myth, but here, they are as real as the ground beneath your feet. They are not just pets though, they are our friends. And at the age of sixteen, you are finally allowed to ride them. Living on Berk, you are most likely to build up a bond with a particular dragon, and this is the dragon you learn how to ride. My dragon is called Fredo, because he loves to eat these little chocolate figures called 'Fredos'. And the cool thing about Fredo, is that he is a Night Fury, the rarest of all dragons. There are only ever two riders to a continent, the chief and his apprentice, but the wild Night Furies live all over the place and there only two living on the island at the moment, one of them being Fredo; the other, his sibling who doesn't have a name or confirmed rider. Fredo is a dark purple sort of colour with soothing yellow eyes, and even though he is smaller than all the other dragons, he still takes up over half the space in my bedroom. And one of the reasons Fredo chose me to be the next chief is that I'm a descendant of Hiccup, the man who ended the dragon war over a thousand years ago. And that I am the son of the chief, but I think that is less impressive.

His sibling, who no one has been able to get close to in years, is a darker colour, black even, and its scales glisten in the sun, when we have it. It also has sea blue eyes that always seem to be searching. Apparently, some woman came here when I was about five, after her boat sank, and it took some interest in her. But it being modern times, she had to phone her team that she was fine and we had to take her to the mainland a week later. The dragon hasn't been the same since; even Fredo can't convince it to leave the spot the woman had left it at ten years ago.

Every day I look out of my bedroom window to see it, still sitting there. The village elders are starting to lose hope. I don't know what they are going to do, but something will have to be done soon because it hasn't flown in over six months, even though the only flights it has been on is to check the island. Today was no different; it was still sitting there, looking out to sea.

Fredo came over to me, and nudged me in the ribs. He was hungry, like normal. He would have to settle for fish though today, as all the 'Fredos' have made him a bit on the chubby side. He looked at me playfully before jumping upwards and clinging to the wooden roof of my room. All of the houses here are typical of Viking design, long wooden cabins, with two rooms added to the roof space. Toilets are a new addition compared to some other things in this town, and we have only recently had internet put in, and the mobile phone coverage boosted to cover the whole island space.

As I opened the door to my house, the warm summer sun covered me from head to toe. It was nice when the sun actually came out, and we all made the most of the good weather, flying our dragons as much as possible. I look down onto Berk, various species of dragons perched on the roofs of the houses, like parrots on a pirate's shoulder. Fredo burst past me, flying straight up into the air for a quick stretch before I would be riding him.

I smiled as I walked down to the main square at the bottom of the hill that day, to discover that a crowd had gathered. The village elders were in the centre, addressing the crowd as I approached. When they eventually saw me, the whole crowd parted. Being one of the Night Fury riders on the continent meant I had many privileges, including that the elders consulted me before they went ahead with anything. Including whatever was going on today.

"What's so important that you have called a village meeting?", I asked the elders as I joined them.

"We have decided what to do about the lone Night Fury", one of the women told me.

"What would that be then, 'cause it ain't budging and no one can make it", I told them, laughing slightly, if they were planning on moving it, one of them would have their head bitten off.

The six or so of them looked about each other, and a letter was handed forward to me from one of the men. It was addressed to some doctor in Washington DC in some place called the Jeffersonian. As I quickly glanced over the typed letter, which I was surprised that any of them had enough knowledge of computers to be able to type out, I caught the main point. It was inviting this doctor up here. I smiled; they thought that some doctor, who had no experience whatsoever, could just come down here and fix our dragon. "What is so special about this doctor?", I asked them.

"She is the only one that the Night Fury has ever taken an interest in", the woman who spoke before said, "When she came here ten years ago, she left an address and name if we needed to contact her. It is our last hope".

I looked up at the Night Fury. It was depressing to see a dragon in this way. Nobody has ever come to the island and left without a dragon. Yes the dragons do stay here, but their riders come back when they can. This woman, the Night Fury had obviously chosen all those years ago, and she was our last hope. "Well I hope this Dr. Temperance Brennan comes, otherwise we have a dead dragon on our hands", I said before handing the letter back to them, and jumping onto Fredo who had swooped down to pick me up.

* * *

"Sweetie, you got mail", Angela squealed through the door of the bone room, holding a letter in her hand.

Tempe looked up, not moving her head. She was nearly finished with a skeleton, and was just about to finish up. Couldn't Angela of waited a few more minutes and left her in peace. It was never going to happen in this lifetime. She placed the skull down onto the table and removed the plastic gloves.

"Isn't it a bit late for mail", she told her best friend, it was nearing one in the afternoon and the rest of the mail had been delivered earlier that morning.

"Well, this just came by special delivery. Look at all those stamps. It has come a long way just for you", the artist said handing over the envelope, "And I'm not leaving you just in case it is a creepy stalker thing".

All the times Bren's stalkers have sent something to the lab, this was the first letter. Angela, on one hand was eager to find out what the letter contained, but was however feeling nervous just in case there was something disturbing contained within. She watched as her best friend opened up the said letter, unfolding the sheet of paper contained within, and a plane ticket fell out.

Tempe was happy that Angela had stayed, too many times these moments were ruled by stalkers, and she might need her best friend there. Well not really, it was just so Angela didn't feel guilty if something bad happened. She looked down at the page. At the top, it was addressed to her, and was dated to last week. The letter was set out properly, and the place it was sent from surprised Brennan, is not confused her. Not letting that stop her, she continued on, only to be more baffled. The ticket was dated to today, a flight leaving tonight. Something she had left ten years ago had come to bite her on the butt.

"Sweetie is everything okay", Angela said cautiously, placing one hand on her friend's shoulder, "If it is another stalker, I'm here for you".

"It's not a stalker Ange", Brennan told her as she read over the letter again.

"Are you sure beca...".

"It is not a stalker. It is an invitation".

"What to a party?", Angela said, now smiling a bit, "Can you trust it?".

"Yes, well, it is more like summons".

"From who?", Angela asked, curious even more so now to the contents of the letter.

"No one that you need to know about", Brennan said as she stormed out of the room, "Sorry Ange. This is something that not anyone here knows about".

Angela was left just standing there; with only a skeleton as company. Thankfully for her, moments later, Booth walked by, taking a step backwards when he saw Angela standing in the middle of the bone room like her brain had just been eaten. He walked in, waving his hand in front of Angela, trying to snap her out of the trance that she had been left in. "Angela, are you okay", he asked finally.

"I feel, sort of, rejected", she told him still looking out of the room, as if he was not there.

"By who?", he asked as he perched himself on the edge of the table slightly.

"By Bren", she told him, finally meeting his gaze upon her.

"Nah, you must be hallucinating, she always leaves us unexpectantly", Booth said as he helped push the artist out through the door.

"I know, but this time, it left a feeling", she said, turning around, not wanted to be ordered around by Booth.

"Let me talk to her, they may be something up", Booth said as he walked backwards, leaving Angela alone in the middle of a rather quiet lab.

* * *

All the way back to her office, Brennan kept reading the letter over and over. Ten years ago was the only time something in the real world, even Booth would think is irrational, she actually believed in. Her boat had smashed into a rock, and she was thrown overboard. She had apparently been out for two days and that the islanders had seen her floating on some the wreckage on their morning flight. When she woke up, she found herself in a warm wooden cabin, covered in what seemed to be reindeer fur.

As she remembered the moment she woke up, she could smell the wood smoke mixed in with meat cooking, and the warmness of the fur. She hurried into her room, and sat down at her desk, still engrossed in the letter. She couldn't decide on what to do next, so she closed her eyes, and began to remember the moments after she woke up...

She woke up to a bright light, and voices all around her. The smell of wood smoke and fish, and the hint of sea air made her nose sting. Her hair felt like it needed a good wash, and her skin felt all salty like it did after being swimming in the sea. A face appeared in her line of sight, a youngish woman, probably about twenty, just a bit younger than she was. She had long blonde hair done up into two loose plats on either side of her head. She was smiling as she dabbed a warm cloth on Temperance's head. "Welcome back to the land of the living", she said, a deep Scottish accent was very apparent.

"I don't know what that means", she answered back, feeling that her throat was dry and sore.

"You've been out for two days miss", she said as she helped Brennan to sit up.

Temperance looked around the room, wooden structures everywhere. Wooden artwork, wooden supporting beams even wooden kitchen cabinets lined the walls. She could hear a crowd outside, like they were listening in. At a window, she could see faces peering in, smiling right at her. Someone had changed her clothes, and she was now wearing a cotton vest top, and a pair of leather trouser type things. "Where the hell am I?", she questioned the girl who had now gone over to the door, putting on a pair of shoes as she went.

"You're in Berk miss", she said as she pushed down on the door handle, "I'm just going to get the chief, and he can explain everything to ya".

As the door slammed shut, Temperance heard even more shuffling about outside. She swung her legs around and placed them on the ground. Her feet were bear and the coldness of the stone floor went right through her as they made contact. She could feel some bruising on her forehead, as she rubbed her head, trying to remember what happened. There was a loud crash on the roof, and then whatever happened, made a loud noise that made the hairs on her arms stand.

"Bones", Booth shouted, bringing her out of the dream.

He was standing in the doorway of her office, looking rather confused. They had just finished the last case yesterday, and it wouldn't be long until they had another. If they were lucky, they might have two days to themselves. Enough time for her disappear and come home in a week. She would have to get rid of him first though.

"Uh hey Booth", she said as he walked over.

She stood to meet him halfway. He glanced over her shoulder to see the letter and plane ticket sitting on her desk. Maybe that was what she had run away from Angela with. _If it is another stalker..._, Booth began to think, the fury building inside. "So, uh Bones. Angela said that there might be something up. Something to do with that letter maybe?", Booth asked, he never missed anything.

"Uh, yeah. It is all to do with that letter. I'm going to have to go away for a week", she started telling him, trying to formulate an excuse in her head, "Glasgow University need me to identify some rather fragile remains that cannot be shipped by air or sea. They are of the utmost priority".

"Well, I'll come with you. Don't see why they didn't send it by email though, would have been much quicker", he said as he turned on his heels, heading for the door.

"No Booth, there is no need for you to come with me", she told him as she helped to push him out of the door.

"Well, at least let me drive you to the airport", he said, with big puppy dog eyes.

"Fine. My flight is tonight. Can you pick me up at about six?", she said, standing in the doorway as he backed through the lab.

"Tonight? Well okay. Don't forget to tell Cam, and oh... go and apologise to Angela, you left her in quite a state", he said as he got just far enough before he would have to start shouting.

* * *

**Ten Years Ago**

The chief walked in through the door of the cabin in which the mystery woman was being kept. He examined the room before entering, to find she was nowhere to be found. As he stepped in, he somehow tripped, and rolled over to find the woman standing above him holding a ladle ready to strike. The chief was a large man, over six foot easily, and he couldn't see how she could have done this to him. She examined him, before extending her hand to help him rise.

His long greying beard of brown flowed down as gravity took over, and his grey eyes looked over this stranger. She had been out for the past two days, after the Night Fury picked her up on the morning flight. They didn't know how long before that she was unconscious. To add to all of this, they had no idea who she was or where she came from. "You must be the chief", she said with an American accent.

"Yes, Chief McCullough", he replied as he subconsciously reached behind him for the chair up against the wall, "We though don't know who you are or where you are from".

"Temperance Brennan, I live in America, Washington DC at the present moment, and I was out studying the Viking culture for my Forensic Anthropology degree when I think my boat capsized", she said as her right hand rubbed her head, "Can you please explain to me where exactly I am?".

"You are on Berk Miss Brennan. In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, a good half a day boat ride from anywhere".

She nodded to the new information. She didn't seem a bit bothered that she was in the middle of nowhere; or the fact that she had been travelling in the cold seas for an unknown amount of time or the fact that the crew of her ship might be looking for her. She tensed up as there was scratching on the roof, and raised the ladle ready to strike. "What is that?", she asked, looking around at the area above her.

"Ah, it's only Fredo wee lass. He won't bite ya, just a bit curious as to whom you are. See, we don't get too many visitors here, and it is sort of a new experience for him", Chief McCullough told her as he stood, and headed to the door.

"And Fredo would be a bird then", she said as he gestured for her to follow.

The Chief laughed. "Ah, Miss Brennan, you have a lot to learn", he told her, she was hesitant about coming with him, "He won't bite, and, if you are afraid of the rest of us, we won't bite ya either".

She followed him outside, after he handed her a pair of leather boots to wear. Outside, it was a lovely calm summer's day. A cool breeze blew, making the sunshine pleasant and welcoming. As if the event had been dramatized, there was a gathering of about thirty odd people waiting in a semi circle outside the door. More stretched around the sides of the building. All of them were eager to get a glimpse of her. Men, women and children, all dressed in a similar way to her; woollen, weaved, knitted and leather clothing. They all had smiles on their faces as she looked around, and the Chief raised his arms for silence. "People of Berk, this is Temperance Brennan from Washington DC in America. She is our honoured guest until we can find a way to get her back to the mainland", he smiled at her, "So, let's give her a good old Berk welcome eh?".

Everyone around him began to laugh, and make their ways off, to do something the Chief had obviously told them in the subtext of that speech. He looked at her, as she gazed around at the village on the cliff top. It had been there over a thousand years, and not even a war would make these settlers budge. "Do you want to meet our Fredo now?", he asked, as he called over a small boy.

This boy resembled this man greatly, so Temperance assumed that he was the Chief's son. He could also be no more than five years old. He looked up at her, ginger red hair burning like fire in the sun, and blue eyes like hers, full of happiness of the youth. "This is my son, Bart. Fredo is his pet", McCullough said as he patted the boy on his shoulder, "Bart, this is Miss Brennan, and she would like to meet Fredo".

The boy looked up and behind her. Temperance did not look as it seemed the boy was looking at her. He took two fingers to his mouth and whistled. There was a loud whoosh from somewhere behind her. Tempe turned to look, but there was nothing to explain the sound. She turned back to find two big yellow cat like eyes staring back at her. Normally, in these circumstances, she would have defended herself with a good kick to whomever or whatever this was, but this time she stood still as the eyes examined her thoroughly.

They jumped backwards to behind the man and boy, to reveal that the eyes belonged to a long dark purple winged creature. Bart stroked whatever it was' head as it nudged the boy slightly. McCullough scratched what looked like the creatures ears before it flipped onto its back like a dog playing. Tempe just stared at the irrationality of what the hidden child within her brain was telling her this creature was. Being thrown out of that boat must have knocked her head hard. "This is Fredo Miss Brennan", the chief said as the creature flipped back over.

"What...is...it?", she stammered out, on the verge of physically shaking with fear.

"He, Miss Brennan, is a dragon. The special thing about Berk, and the fact it is so secluded is that this is the only place on earth where dragons can live without fear of being hunted", the chief said as he walked over to her, as she was glued to the spot, "Do you want to come and say hello?".

She looked at him. Whatever she did next, was going to happen without her thinking about it. She nodded her head, and McCullough led her over to the creature lying down on its side. He gestured for her to kneel down beside it, so she did. Bart, who had shuffled around to be next to her, took her hand, and placed it on the dragon's skin. It was cold and scaly beneath, and she was reminded of her irrational fear of snakes. There was a roar from above her, and as she looked up, she saw that most of the village were high in the sky, flying all different types of dragons, some weren't even mounted and were just enjoying the company.

"This is amazing", she said, as she began stroking Fredo.

"Yes, but you have to promise to keep it a secret. You cannot tell anyone", McCullough told her, as she looked at him, "There is a phone in the village you can use to contact who you need to".

* * *

Booth knocked on her door at quarter to six. He liked to be early so he could go through her the things that she may have forgotten to pack. He hoped that someday she might do the same thing for him as the last time he went away, he didn't pack any underwear. "C'mon in Booth", he heard her shout from somewhere in the apartment.

She didn't need to shout that, Booth had already let himself in. On her sofa was a packed suitcase, ready to go, and she was most likely packing her on flight bag, full of paper and pencils ready to write down any story ideas. Booth normally packed when he went on holiday lots of puzzle books, and now in recent years a cushion as coach seemed to be getting more and more uncomfortable.

She came out from her room, hair tied up into a pony tail, something she only does now and again these days when she is in the lab, and wearing clothes that were not normally her choice these days. She wore items that reminded him of when he first met her. Jeans, a vest top, leather boots, and a jacket; all of these had a earthy colour theme to them. "Right Bones, do you have passport?", he asked her as she set down the other bag.

"Yes, and tickets", she replied as she pointed to the area in her bag.

"Enough clothes and spares?".

"Yes, also packed different shoes".

"What about toiletries?".

"Enough to sink a vessel".

"Boat Bones, not vessel. And finally, have you got your phone and charger so I can contact you?".

"Yes, and I have an adapter for the plugs out there".

"Good, then I deem you ready to fly. As long as there are no liquids in your hand luggage?".

"C'mon Booth, I'm going to miss my flight", she told him as he was pushed out the door.

* * *

**Ten Years Ago**

On her way down to the phone, Temperance Brennan felt as if she was being followed. She was excellent at noticing things like this, but when she looked, there wasn't even the hint of someone there. _Great_, she thought, _I'm now also paranoid, another thing to add to the list of things wrong with me which doesn't help me in socialising_. The phone was at the bottom of a hill; in what McCullough told her was the village square. On her way down, apart from the stalker feeling, she was greeted by everyone she saw, and there were also dragons everywhere. There were the large ones of many varieties that the adults were riding, and then there were a small species that seemed to act as small dogs or cats.

She reached a paved area surrounded by a collection of buildings, when she had the stalker feeling once more. In the middle of the square, was a red telephone box like you see in British films. Inside was a payphone with the payment section replaced by a large phone book. On closer inspection, it was made up of several. Tempe phoned into the trip organiser, telling them that she was okay. When she told him that she was on Berk, her Scottish guide laughed on the end. She couldn't tell if e was laughing at her, or that he was pleased where she was. "Tell McCullough that we are sending a boat out, say next Monday. The seas are supposed to get rather rough coming up over the weekend. Tell him that the message is from Mike. He will know what I mean", the guide said before they ended the phone call.

So, she had until next Monday to make full use of this island, and it was only Wednesday according to the guide. There were so many things to do, but the first things on her mind were to find out where the hell her clothes had gotten to and food. As she stepped out of the box, something landed with a thud in front of her. Getting used to dragons falling out of the sky was something she thought would always make her jump. The people around the square all looked on in amazement, something about this dragon was not right.

It looked to be the same species as Fredo, but this one was black, and it had eyes bluer than hers. It examined her hard, before shooting up into the air at incredible speed. Bart came running over from a group of kids to the baffled adult. He tugged on her arm as she watched it get smaller and smaller. "That was Fredo's brother or sister. It was the one that saved you", he told her.

Tempe looked down at the boy, and then looked back as she watched the dragon swoop around the mountain onto the other side. "It wanted you to say thank you", Bart told her before running back over to his friends.

"How could an animal understand me? They're animals", she said to herself, as she made her way back up to the chiefs log cabin where she was most definitely staying for the next few days.

**AN: So, I hoped you like the first instalment. There is more coming your way don't you worry, but there could be some time before that as this took me a week to perfect. Please review because, I know this is something completely different.**


	2. Berk

The flight from Washington DC landed in Glasgow airport at nine am local time. I can't believe that I would be meeting this woman, I had somehow been volunteered to meet her. A week ago we sent off the letter and plane ticket in the post, and now today, Saturday morning of all things, I'm waiting in arrivals for someone who may not even show. I just hope the letter got to her in time.

There is a swarm of people coming through the doors now, all pushing or pulling suitcases. Most of them look very tired, I am too, seeing that I have been waiting here since half eight, and in Glasgow since yesterday. And now my foot has begun to tap, great. Also, the metal railing that I have been leaning on, is getting to be very uncomfortable, what else? Then, a woman comes out, looking all fresh but confused as to her location; I knew, that was her. She was young, beautiful, and very attractive, just like I remember her. Blue eyes like mine and flowing mouse brown hair that sat upon her shoulders.

She saw me looking at her, and came over. I straightened up, pushing myself up on the metal railing. She smiled as she approached. "Are you Dr. Brennan", I asked her as she set down her things.

"Yes I am. You're from Berk I guess then?", she asked as I took her carryon bag off her.

"Yeah, Bart McCullough", I told her as she ducked under the metal railing, pulling her suitcase behind.

"Chief McCullough's son?", she questioned as she stood up.

"Yeah, Fredo's rider if you can remember", I said as we made our way over to the departures.

"Oh, how can I forget", she laughed, "How long is the journey up there because I could do with some sleep if you don't mind".

"We have a two hour flight now to the Shetland Islands, then a wee boat ride, and we should be at Berk by about four this afternoon. You will get plenty of sleep", I told her as we joined the queue for checking in.

She smiled and started rummaging through her bag. It was four in the morning back in DC, and she was sending a text rather than phoning the person who was the one to be concerned about her. I always had to phone my father, he can't do texting, no matter what time it was. "My partner Booth", she told me after noticing me glance over, "Always worried about me. It is like having an over protective parent".

"Know the feeling all too well", I agreed with her.

* * *

It was a Saturday, and Cam never came in on Saturdays. But, since Brennan was away in Glasgow, and Booth had decided to take the week off, she thought it was the best time to recruit her friends to help sort through all the junk that had come with her room. She already persuaded Angela with anything she found that was not important she could have, and Booth had been dragged in after Cam gave him a speech on how she needed a strong man to lift all the heavy boxes. That always gets them. Hodgins was with his bugs at home, watching some sort of special butterfly hatch or something, and Sweets was with Daisy. And another good thing for Cam was that there were no interns for approximately two weeks. It was like being in seventh heaven.

She walked in through the main doors to the lab at nine, not expecting anyone to be there until ten. This hour to herself meant she could map out what needed doing, and analyse what were the best places to start. There was so much junk from the previous pathologist left behind, Cam had to wonder how much this person had taken with them. But her plan was ruined by the fact Booth was spinning himself around on one of the chairs on the platform. Men could always amuse themselves with a spinning chair.

He stopped as he saw her walk through the doors and up to him. "You're not meant to be here for another hour yet Booth", she told him as she set down her handbag on one of the tables.

"I know, but Bones not being here feels really... odd", he said as he stood to meet her.

"Well, you should be happy for her, going off like that. We all need a break from murder solving", she told him as she switched the computer nearest to her on, "Has she landed yet?".

"Yeah, she texted me at four this morning", Booth replied as he perched himself on the desk next to Cam.

"Good. Angela should be here in about an hour then we can start. Is she going to phone you?".

"Angela or Bones?".

"Dr. B, is she going to phone you later?".

"Yeah, she said she would call when she was settled in her room. Why?".

"We need her to bring some haggis back", Cam smiled.

"Oh yeah, then you lot can start experimenting on it and discover the cure for the common cold", Booth laughed with her.

* * *

"Dr. Brennan", Bart whispered at the sleeping woman.

"Hmmm", she said as she slowly came around.

"We are at Berk", Bart smiled at her.

They were travelling on a very expensive looking boat. It had three decks, two bedrooms, a small kitchen, seating area, and bathroom. Bart said it was enough for transporting a group of villagers to the other islands, and was the sturdiest they could find. Tempe was sleeping in one of the bedrooms, and it was kitted out with a good sized double bed, a decent sized wardrobe, and a way too small porthole window.

She looked at the watch on her wrist. It read half three, they were ahead of schedule, and the nights getting longer meant that it would be light for a while. Tempe swung her legs around and off the bed. She rubbed her eyes and stretched. She had really needed that sleep, and she now felt refreshed and ready to go. The movement of the boat had really helped her drift off, and now she could tell it was slowing down.

Outside, Bart was as far front as he could get on the boat. Brennan came out and walked over to him as he stared at the island before them. All around, there were dragons flying in the sky. The mountains reached upwards into the sky, almost touching the clouds, with houses clinging to the side and the cliff tops. Smoke rose from various wooden buildings, and there was a crowd gathering on the dock. Brennan smiled as she returned to the place that had made her question her rationality. Bart smiled with her, before shifting his body up onto the railing of the boat. She watched as he fell backwards and then a purple object whooshed upwards for a loop.

It came back down with Bart sitting on its shoulders, and hovered by the side of the boat. "Remember Fredo", Bart said as he stroked the dragon's head.

"How could I forget", she smiled back at him before Fredo roared with joy and flew back over to the island.

The boat docked before Tempe knew it, and as if she had blanked out, she now found herself standing at the top of stairs, confronted with a crowd well over a hundred of people and dragons. One hand on her suitcase, and the other on the railing, she made her way down to where a grey bearded man was waiting, in front of everyone else. How could she ever forget his face. "Temperance Brennan", he said, arms open, "My how you have bloomed into a beautiful woman".

"Chief McCullough", she said as they embraced a hug, "It has been a long time".

"It has indeed", he said as they parted, his beard moving as he spoke, "I know you have only just arrived, but there are matters which need to be addressed".

He pointed up towards a black object on the cliff above them. At first, Tempe thought it was part of the cliff face, but as she looked closer, she could see it was a dragon. It was pressed against the floor, flat out, and looked completely lifeless. And to add to things, it was where she had last seen it ten years ago.

It had followed her all week, investigating through all her stuff, watching her every move. But, even if it did keep its distance, she knew that it was interested. It watched her leave from that very spot, ten years ago, although back then, it had a lot more life. "Is it really that bad?", she questioned as someone took her suitcase off her.

The crowd parted as the chief led her through the village. "I know that you don't have as much knowledge as we do, but if it looks bad to ya, then it is hell from our point of view", he told her as they walked up the hill.

Bart and Fredo were waiting at the top. On the ground by them was a line drawn into the soil, and Bart was holding a large basket of something which was making Fredo go berserk. The crowd which had followed them up stopped a good ten metres from Bart and Fredo, as Tempe and the chief continued on. The dragon was a good fifteen metres away from the line, facing out to sea. "What is the line for", she questioned the chief.

"That is as far as we can get without upsetting it", he told her as he placed a hand down on his son's shoulder.

The basket was thrust forward at her. The stink of fish erupted under her nose, and Bart seemed glad to be rid of it if anything. "You might need these", the boy said as Tempe took the basket of fish from him.

The basket now counterbalanced the weight of her carryon bag on her back, and her back felt a little less strained. "What for", she asked as she pulled a face at the fish.

"Dragons love fish", McCullough said, as he pointed towards the line, "Good luck".

"There is no such thing as luck", she told him as she made her way to the line.

She took in a large lung full of air as she prepared herself to confront this beast. On her own as well, with a basket full of stinking fish, it was getting better and better. It was now or never, as she walked over the line and towards the dragon. There was a gasp from behind her, and it seemed pretty anti-climatic that the dragon didn't respond whatsoever as she approached it. Its long black tail hardly moved, twitched if nothing else and shuddered its wings as she passed its torso. The nerves were building as she came around to the front, and saw the longing blue eyes looking out to sea.

It was like it didn't even notice her as she stood before it. Temperance put the basket down, took of her bag, and sat down in front of the animal. She looked at it, wondering what to do next. Now she wished Booth were there with her, he would know what to do. _Okay then Tempe, why don't we play Booth_, she thought to herself, _let's talk to it, even though because it is an animal it can't speak back_.

"Listen right, I don't know what to do, and those people over there are getting worried about you", she said to the creature, "I'm Dr. Temperance Brennan, and I know you are not going to speak back to me, but I'm doing what my friend Booth would".

Its eyes shifted, and focused on her as she opened up the basket of fish and removed one. She held it out for the dragon, inches from its nose. It sniffed the fish, snatching it out from her hand and swallowing it whole. Brennan smiled as it shifted its weight slightly. "Okay, now what?", she asked it.

It tilted its head like a dog does when it is playing. Slowly, it began to sit up. From behind, the crowd watched on, and Fredo moved forward. The dragon turned around its head sharply and growled at its sibling, warning it to stay away. It turned back to Tempe, and waited for her next move. "Okay, maybe I can read you something out of my book to calm you down", she said as she rummaged around in the bag and took out her latest novel.

The dragon stood and moved forward to sniff the object; it snorted at it, and picked up the bag in its teeth. It then began shaking the bag, letting everything fall out. "Hey", Tempe said as she stood to remove her bag from the dragons mouth.

Before she even touched the fabric, the dragon dropped it on her head and began sniffing the contents of the bag. It found her plastic gloves and black light pen; the pen fascinated it as the dragon started rolling it about. "Here", Brennan said as she picked it up and turned it on.

The dragon sniffed at the light, and Tempe stared as the light seemed to illuminate the dragon's skin. It highlighted patterns in the scales that she would have never guessed to be there, swirling all over its body. Then it attacked her laptop, scratching at it, trying to get it open. "Oh okay", Brennan said as she sat down and opened it.

As she switched the device on, she turned it around for the dragon to see and as the desktop popped up, it made the dragon jump. She reached around to the front and brought up the latest case file and photos. "I investigate murders for a living. I'm a forensic anthropologist working in the Jeffersonian in conjunction with the FBI", she told it as it watched her flick through all the different pages, "Look, here it is".

She opened up a file on the laptop, containing the photos she had taken with the camera Angela got her for her last birthday. They had all insisted that she used it that day and take photos of the lab. They served a good purpose now as she showed this dragon everything; the lab, her friends, her friends mucking about, even a skeleton in the bone room. The dragon was inquisitive about all of them.

After staring at each of the photos for a good while, it jumped around to the other side of her and started nudging her in the back, pushing her forward. "Hey, let me get my stuff, then we can go and see the others", she said smiling as she looked at the crowd who all seemed very pleased.

She bent down to pick up the contents of her bag and started stuffing them back in. She could sort it out later, these people didn't judge a person by the state of the contents of someone's bag. She zipped it up, and threw it onto her back. As she stood, she glimpsed the crowd backing off, and Fredo was getting rather excitable. But before she knew it, the ground from beneath her feet disappeared.

In a moment of shock, Temperance screamed and clung on to whatever she could find. This happened to be dragon scales, and she could feel the air rushing past her, and the force from the dragon beating its wings. And for some reason, she daren't open her eyes.

"Hey, there is nothing to be afraid of", she heard someone shout, "Look!".

The voice seemed to snap some logic into her. She had once laughed at Booth when he closed his eyes when he thought they were going to be blown up in the Gormogon Vault. She opened her eyes, and found that she was sitting on the shoulders of the dragon as it flew around the island. Next to her was Bart and Fredo; who seemed very happy to have his sibling flying with him. Bart was sitting on what looked like a specially designed saddle with handles for him to hold onto and stirrups for his feet. He seemed to be a lot comfier than Temperance was right now.

"Hey, can tell you that she is a girl now", Bart shouted, "You can name her now, she is yours".

This news made Brennan smile. This dragon had chosen for her to ride it, no her. And now, she could name her; a special way of the two communicating with each other. Temperance couldn't believe how quickly it had taken for this dragon to come out of its shell, just for her. It must have chosen her all those years ago, and just needed a kick-start. Out of happiness, the dragon shot out a stream of purple light that erupted into flame after a distance. The dragon flew over it, and swooped down to land on the green where it had stayed for the past ten years.

* * *

Chief McCullough came running over as a windswept Tempe hopped off the dragon. Fredo and Bart landed next to them, and as soon as Bart was off, the two dragons started interacting; rubbing and sniffing each other. McCullough was speechless to the situation. "I don't know what to say. Fifteen minutes and you are flying", he said as he watched the two creatures play.

"Well dad, it's a girl. Looks like it has chosen which rider belongs to her", he said looking at Temperance who was high on adrenaline.

"Have you thought of a name Dr. Brennan?", the chief asked the woman, who was enjoying the effects of her adrenaline rush.

"What no. I've only been here less than half an hour and you think I should have a name formulated in my brain", she stared at him, and it was like talking to Sweets in some aspects, the expectancy for her to come up with something childish.

"Well, it would be nice to call her something else than just Night Fury. Give it some thought, and then we can have it engraved into your saddle", McCullough said as he led her to a familiar looking cabin at the top of the hill.

"What... my saddle", she squeaked, still in shock.

"Yes, if you can get her to be still later, we can measure up and have a saddle ready for you to start flying tomorrow", he said as he pushed open the door to the chief's cabin.

Bart followed shortly afterwards, and the two dragons in quick succession behind him before the door was shut. Inside, he showed Tempe to her room, a spare one they had put in after his cousin came to visit a few years ago, and her dragon followed after, looking at everything and anything on the way. Bart smiled as he watched the dragon shoot upwards to cling onto the roof, just like they all did. "We are having a feast in an hour, in the main cave. Are you going to join us?", Bart asked her as she sat down on the single bed.

"Yes, but I have to phone home first. Let them know I'm okay, I might change into something more appealing for the situation", she told him as she took out her mobile, "You do have signal here?".

"Yeah, and Wi-Fi", he told her at the door, "there is an en-suit in there", he said, gesturing towards a door on the other side of the room, before leaving her in peace with the dragon.

Brennan flipped open her phone, and chose the first number in her speed dial. She listened to the ringtone, waiting for the familiar answer. "Booth", her partner answered.

"Hey Booth", she said to him.

"Oh hey Bones".

Booth had been waiting all day for this call. Unpacking boxes of junk that didn't belong to any of the three people in the room was very boring. Angela had accumulated a pile of ornaments and other little knick knacks, while Cam was feeling better by the minute as the pile of junk sitting in the cupboards of her room quickly depleted. Booth had had enough half an hour in, but being the gentleman he was, he wasn't going to let his friends down.

"Yeah, so, well, I'm here, in the hotel room", she was lying through her teeth for these people.

"Good, are they nice there, or do I need to come and protect you?".

"No, you don't need to come. The people here are really nice, and the local wildlife are interesting and different", she said this looking up at her dragon swinging back and forth on the roof.

"_Bring us back some haggis"_, she heard Cam shout from somewhere in the background.

"Why does Cam want haggis? It isn't very nice", Brennan told Booth.

"She is just being stupid Bones don't pay any attention. Now get an early night okay, because it was a long flight, and you probably haven't slept since early this morning, plus you will have jetlag", Booth told her on the other end, always overprotecting her.

"Don't worry Booth, an early night is on the way", more lies, a feast would go on forever and it is not like she has to get up tomorrow.

"Have fun".

"Oh, I will", and with that, the conversation ended.

* * *

An hour later, I came back to knock on her door. I too had had a shower and changed for the feast. Fredo also seemed to have preened himself and was now lying flat out on the living room floor; happy to have his sister back. I had changed into a more appealing jeans and shirt with a leather jacket, as this was quite a momentous feast. Oh, and did I mention I would have to accompany Dr. Brennan as part of me volunteering involved me looking after her? I'm going to look a complete fool looking after a woman twice my age.

I took a large breath before knocking on her door, it was worse than going on a first date. After I did, there was a lot of crashing coming from in her bedroom. I heard her cursing as something landed with a thud on the wooden floor. Then there was the rush of air as her dragon lifted off the ground to perch on the beams above. She opened the door, slightly, looking back and up into the room, then opened the door fully when she saw it was me. She had changed into a very stylish black jeans, white blouse and black jacket, complete with large chunky metal jewellery. Her makeup, even though I have no clue when saying this, seemed just right.

She smiled at me, and I smiled back. Her dragon then appeared from behind her, holding some item of clothing in its mouth. It stared down at me, then out to Fredo who had sat up. Before either of us knew, she jumped over us, dropping the item as she went, and playfully attacked Fredo.

"It is like babysitting a toddler", Dr. Brennan said as she bent down to pick up her top and threw it back into the room.

"They do get better. If ya think 'bout it, she has been deprived of social interaction and is now releasing it in one big burst", I told as we walked over to the living space, the dragons darting gracefully around the room.

"I hate psychology, but I suppose you are right. A lack of social contact for anything can be frustrating", she told me as we reached the door.

As I opened it, the two dragons burst out past us and went straight up into the air to continue their game. I produced my arm, and Dr. Brennan took it. The village was empty, as the whole village, except maybe the odd few with you know small kids, were waiting for us in the cave. As we walked through, our dragons made all sorts of noises above us. It was a strange sight to see a male and female Night Fury together as normally they only came together to do the deed. Our two are the only ones on the island; the other local ones live in secluded places up north, or in the abandoned caves of the old dragon nest.

Our Night Furies were born and hatched on the island. A mother comes here every century or so to lay eggs in a nest of pure fire on the mountain somewhere and ours were hatched within days of my birth. My dad called it destiny, but I call it pure coincidence. The mother would then leave them when they are about six months old, and by this time they are strong and big enough to fly. So Fredo has been with me since birth, and his sister was very much independent, guarding the island. Now it seems they have switched roles, Fredo being the mature one, and his sister the inquisitive child. I looked at the doctor as she watched them fly above.

"How did you get her interested in you?", I asked her, the thought just popping in, "No offense or anything, it is just none of us have any clue 'bout how to deal with that situation".

"Suppose that is a valid question. Well, my partner Booth told me this thing about animals liking books being read to them. I thought it was better to take his strategy as he knows more about these things than I do", she told me, watching the two as they dived down to the sea, "But she was not interested in having my book read to her, so she went through my things and pulled items of interest out. She seemed to very much like the pictures of the lab where I work, and the bodies I investigate".

As my brain took this information in, I began to put two and two together, and yes, I got four. "You're the Dr. Temperance Brennan! The writer and one who works in that Jeffersonian place solving murders! And now you ride a dragon!", my poor teenage brain went into overload as soon as I got four, "Your life is so cool".

She seemed a bit shocked by the outburst. Very understandable, teenage outbursts are very... what is the word... confusing at times. "Thank you. But being me is not all that 'cool'", she started, me looking at her confused like, "I have been kidnapped, buried alive, shot and shot at, had stalkers and death threats, and have been blown up".

"That is quite a list", I told her: now thinking how much she must enjoy getting away like this.

"I can't wait to get back to it though", thanks for completely defying me, "What about you? You are young, there must be some exciting things going on in your life".

Talking about myself, yippee! The worst thing in the world, ever, I promise you. It is okay when you start doing it subconsciously in a conversation, but when you are asked to, it is the most difficult thing in the world. "Well, I have just finished my GCSE's, and will be going to the college on the Shetlands in September. I have fallen off Fredo so many times it is not worth counting, and have been set fire to, but that is an occupational hazard".

"Oh", she hadn't consider the safety risks in having a dragon, "What are you studying?".

"Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Maths".

"That is very impressive. What field of work are you considering to enter with those qualifications?".

"Well, I think I'm going to go down the scientific path because I would really like to find more about the dragons and their biological makeup".

"I could help you there", she popped in; this was getting better and better for me.

"How?", I know that may seem rude, but my brain wasn't really up to speed.

"I could help you out with the anatomy. Then all you have to do is work out muscle density and genetic makeup", well, at least she could point me in the right direction.

"Thanks", I said as we walked up the hill to the doors of the cave.

The doors to the cave were well over three stories high, and had a small space at the top for the dragons to go in and out. They were made of wood, and held together by steel, and were impressive to everyone who laid eyes upon them. Two large dragons were carved into the wood, and their tails curved at the bottom to create the knobs. Fredo gracefully landed beside me, while Dr. Brennan's dragon bounded up behind her like an excited child.

"She is worse than Angela", the doctor said as we prepared ourselves to enter.

"Who?".

"My friend back in DC. Are we going to enter?".

I nodded and took one large breath. The door was heavy, and Fredo helped me by pushing it with his head. The crowd inside became quiet as the door creaked open, and the doctor and I entered in together. Like they had prepared it, our dragons flew over the top of us, and both breathed a purple blue flame that erupted into orange in the centre of the room. My village cheered, and music along with the feasting continued.

Before I could do anything, the poor doctor was pulled away by my dad as he introduced her to everyone. Being Dr. Brennan- less meant that I had to now go over to what the patronising adults called the 'kiddies table'. Well, it is quite a few tables actually. The kids who were just old enough to be here sat at one table, they would be gone by eight. There was a heard of tweens on one, the hormonal thirteen and fourteen year olds on another, and my age group, fifteen and above sat together across two tables.

There are seven of us, three girls and for boys. I was welcomed by the boys with digs and handshakes, and the girls acknowledge my presence with smiling, waving and giggling. Before I sat to join them, I checked on the dragons. There were enough perches all the way up the cave wall for every dragon on the island. But instead of looking there, I looked straight up. Above the flames of the Viking chandelier, was a metal grating for maintenance. Snuggled up together, were the two Night Furies, grooming one another. I smiled and sat.

Before I got completely overwhelmed in beer and food, I noticed Dr. Brennan putting up with my father. She looked like she wanted to just sit down and observe rather than be the centre of all attention. Finally my dad got into a deep conversation with another villager, and went to sit down at one of the tables with a glass of wine.


	3. The Mandibles

**Disclaimer: I don't own the items mentioned in this story, some big company does**

Lunch came too slowly for Booth. All morning he had been sorting with Cam and Angela, listening to their never ending girl gossip. So and so did this, and so and so did that. It was infuriating, but at least he wasn't forced to contribute. All he wanted now was for Bones to come back, and for a juicy murder to come in.

Cam and Angela had changed topics now to shoes as they ate their sandwiches and salads on the platform. Booth kept picking up the same crisp, inspecting it, and then placing it back into the packet. He had no Bones to go to the diner with him, and Cam and Angela wouldn't be much better company there either. His prayers were answered as his phone began to vibrate in his pocket. He flipped it open and smiled. "Thank God someone has been killed", he said, shooting upwards, "C'mon Cam, grab your stuff".

The two girls just sat there for a moment. Booth bounded down the stairs, and turned to face them. Cam saw his expression and began jogging down to her office. She grabbed her jumpsuit and gear, and flicked the switch for the lights off. Her room was a mess from the morning's work, but a body was a body.

"Ange, call Hodgins in. His butterflies will have to wait for another day", she said to the artist and she fumbled about with her stuff through the door.

"You can't leave me in the lab on my own", she shouted after Cam, who had already left, "Okay Angela, one of us will stay with you. Thanks guys".

Hodgins was soon in, and carried a disappointed face of a six year old to go with him. He and Angela were just putting on their coats as Booth and Cam came through the door after their small field trip. "What time is it in Britain?", Cam asked as the techs walked in pushing a trolley.

"Well, it is four now, so it is nineish there", Hodgins said looking at his watch, "Why?".

The techs rolled the trolley to the base of the platform and left, just like they always did in their dopey manner. "Because of this", Cam said, as she began unzipping the body bag.

Hodgins jumped down off the platform, whilst Angela stood back. Past experience taught her well that these bodies could be very gruesome. Hodgins and Booth glanced over, even though the FBI agent had seen the body already, he wanted murder to be declared already so he could get out of the lab and start interrogating.

The body was more of a skeleton than gooey unrecognisable human body parts and fluid. This was Bones' territory. It had been found after a tree had been uprooted in a park in the suburbs along with a rats nest. "We are going to have to call Dr. B for this", Hodgins said.

"That's what I said", Cam told him, "But Booth was adamant that we shouldn't".

"It is late, and if she has any sense she would be asleep. Can't you call in one of your 'wonderful' interns to help out?", Booth asked them, it seemed the most logical thing to do, ha he was being Bones now.

"Can't, they are all on study leave for an exam next week", Cam told him as she and Hodgins lifted up the remains.

"Well, what if we just call Bren, get some first pointers and get her to set up a web cam for tomorrow morning?", Angela suggested, as she watched Cam and Hodgins do the best they could with the bones.

"We just need some advice on... this", Cam pleaded to him, gesturing to the whole skeleton.

"Fine", Booth said taking out his phone, "But you have just volunteered yourselves to come in tomorrow on a Sunday".

"Drat", Angela muttered, as she opened up her sketch pad for a first sketch of the skull.

"Seems fair, I miss my bugs, you don't get to have a lie in, Cam can't clean out her room, and Booth has no partner", Hodgins said as he scraped some particulates of the right radius.

* * *

The feast mainly comprised of meat, so all Temperance had to eat was the vegetables. Not that she was complaining, they were succulent and cooked just right, it was just that she was annoyed that they didn't bother to offer a vegetarian menu. She sat at the chief's table, to her utmost displeasure, just listening to the conversations. Being the centre of the attention when it wasn't about her book felt odd, and this was a completely new experience.

With every passing minute, she felt even more tired. Lack of sleep the previous night was getting to her. The only thing keeping her awake was the traditional music and McCullough's loud laughter. She looked around, and saw Bart drinking some sort of beer with his friends. They were laughing at something. That is when she realised that she was missing her friends. For the past few times she had been away from the lab for any great deal of time, Booth had been there, and she had a continual web cam link to them back at home. It was an irrational feeling to have here, but rationality seemed to have gone out of the window as soon as she arrived. Dragons being able to respond more than any dog or other animal could threw her off the logic that animals had no idea what they were saying.

She heard movement above her, and looked up at the dragons. Fredo and her dragon has lay down together, grooming each other and taking it in turns to watch them humans below. Her leg began to vibrate, Washington DC was calling. "Excuse me", she said to everyone at the table as they watched her stand and head for the door.

It was heavy, but Tempe managed to push it open. The night air was pleasantly cool, and the sun was just setting, painting the sky with oranges and reds. She sat up against the rock and as she looked at the vibrating object in her hand, it was discovered that it was Booth contacting her. Brennan sighed and flipped it open.

"Brennan", she answered.

"Hey Bones, it's us", Booth said on the other end.

"Us?", she questioned him.

"We are on speaker Sweetie", Angela told her.

"Oh, Booth you should have said that then I wouldn't have been so confused", she told her partner.

"Whatever Bones, but we have a body", he jumped to the point.

"And it is all bone, so we need some advice", Cam added.

"We should set up a web link", Brennan sated.

"Tomorrow honey. When you are fully awake and when Glasgow can let you go for a few moments", Angela jumped in.

"Yes, Glasgow University, where I am right now. When I have time", she repeated, lying was not her best quality by far, but her friends were buying it.

"Yeah, so for now, can you just give us a few pointers?", Cam asked.

"Okay. What is the state of the skull", she asked, as she put the phone onto loud speaker and took out the note pad and pen out of her back pocket which she now carried everywhere in case of a good plot idea.

"There is a crack through the mandible", Cam told her.

Tempe suddenly got nudged in the back. Her dragon had followed her out, and was looking at her playfully. Brennan glared at the creature, and she sat back. It looked at Tempe intently as she continued. "Longitudinal or Latitudinal?", she asked as she sketched down a human jaw bone.

"Longitudinal at the chin up to between the two central incisors, looks as though it could snap", Cam answered.

"Hodgins check for particulates at the base. What about pelvic angle?".

"I know enough to say female".

"Is there any other sign of trauma?".

"Except for the mandible, no", Brennan got nudged in the back again.

"Check the teeth for DNA and cross check the dentals with the database", she told them, glaring at her dragon.

"We know that much Dr. B", Cam laughed.

"Just checking", Brennan said as her dragon flipped over onto her back.

"Okay Sweetie, see you tomorrow", Angela squeaked.

"Yeah Bones, get some sleep now", Booth added.

"Alright, speak to you all tomorrow", she said before hanging up.

Bren turned around to glare at the dragon, now rolling around on the floor. It looked at her like she had done nothing wrong. Her deep sea blue eyes all innocent looking and ready for play. "Well, if you are interested in forensic anthropology, the victim's mandible...", Brennan was cut off there as the dragon stood to attention.

Curious, Brennan said the word again, "Mandible".

This time, the dragon came bounding over to in front of her and looked down, keeping eye contact. Tempe smiled, one more test for confirmation, "Mandible".

This time though, the dragon bowed down her head and flicked it back up, catching Tempe, flipping her over onto the dragon's shoulders. Before Brennan's brain could register what had happened, she was flying, the air rushing past her ears. The feeling was amazing as the dragon plunged downwards to fly feet above the sea and out into the sunset. "I think we have found your name", the irrationality of speaking to animals had completely gone now, "Mandible".

* * *

She felt warm. Pleasantly warm like she did when a man was in bed with her, sharing his body heat. But it wasn't her bed she was sleeping on, and it wasn't the smooth texture of male skin that her head was rested upon. Temperance slowly opened her eyes, the light from the sun blinding her. Above her was trees, lots of them, and she could hear birds singing.

Brennan slowly sat up and discovered she had been sleeping under a dragon wing, and resting her head on a highly dangerous looking foot. Mandible was fast asleep, snoring slightly, so Brennan slowly pushed the wing off and stood. She was still dressed in the outfit from last night. Whatever she had drunk last night had to have been strong stuff as the last thing she could remember was talking to Booth and the others.

There was a small fire still glowing by them, and as Brennan looked around, she found a small blue lake. They were in some sort of crater; tall walls of stone surrounded them. She walked over to the water and looked at her reflection. Her hair was rather tidy, but her makeup looked old.

Brennan took off her black jacket and placed it on a rock beside her, and bent down to the water. She splashed some in her face. The powdery makeup came off, and she immediately felt refreshed. She then cupped her hands for a drink. The cold water ran down her throat, it wasn't treated or anything, but it wasn't the worst she had ever had to drink.

As she stood up, she removed her phone from her back pocket from in-between her notepad. There were no messages or missed phone calls, but it was eleven am. "Shoot", she said, fumbling the phone back into her pocket.

Brennan strode over to Mandible. She might have been in deep sleep, but people would be wondering where they were. "Oh God, how do I do this", Brennan said to herself, looking at the sleeping dragon, "Mandible".

The dragon groaned and rolled over. She tucked herself under her wing, long tail and all, and snorted as her head went under too. "Mandible, c'mon we have to go", Brennan said as she went round to the other side of the dragon, "Please, it is eleven and I don't think even you could sleep all day".

The dragon lifted her wing, and with one eye looked at her rider. She sighed and unfolded herself. Mandible stretched and let out a toothless yawn. She shook, before bending down for Brennan to mount. "Thank you", Tempe said before climbing up onto Mandible's shoulders, "Now, take us back to the village".

Mandible shot up into the air, flying at an almighty speed. Brennan looked down as they left the forest behind and headed out to sea for a swoop round to the village.

* * *

Fredo landed in the square where my father was waiting. Both Dr. Brennan and her dragon had been missing since last night, and not even Fredo and I could find them. We were starting to worry that the dragon may have taken her too high and had got themselves shot down as they entered plane air space. My dad was stroking his beard, eyes on the skies looking for the scientist.

"Anything?", he asked me as Fredo walked us to his side.

"No", I told him, looking up also.

"Keep trying Bart. I don't want to be telling her family that she was killed whilst riding a dragon. It would bring up too many awkward situations", he told me, stopping his beard stroking.

"Sir!", someone shouted.

We both faced right to see my friend Alex running out of the meteorology hut. They had found something on the radar. He was taller than me, a good six foot tall, and he had a very high muscle density in his upper half. He also had spiked up black hair and grey eyes, plus to add to all of that he rides a Monstrous Nightmare. You know what, we need to change the names of the dragon species, but tradition sticks in some places. Like the one that I have to stay on Berk for the rest of my life after the age of twenty five because I will be chief then. Damn it.

"What is it Alex?", my father shouted at him as he ran up the hill.

"Unsaddled Night Fury", he panted, "ETA in less than two minutes".

"Sound the alarm", my father shouted, as he sprang over to the side of the square under the shelter of one of the buildings.

Hand gestures and various commands went throughout the village. The loud horn from the days of dragon attacks sounded and we all covered our ears. Some things came in handy after the dragon war. The big horn being one of them as Night Furies travel at close to the speed of sound, and when they arrive, you know all about it. Fredo perked up as the whistle of a dragon hurtling towards the village at nearly 768mph got louder and louder. It was odd for him not to be the cause of the noise, and it sounds completely different when you are the one hurtling towards the ground.

BANG, it hit the side of the cliff as a break; all of them did, and jumped. A flash of black landed in the square with a thud, and dust radiated out. I, still being attached to Fredo, not the wisest of moves I know, found myself being taken through the dust to the centre. And my God was I glad when I saw what sat upon the Night Fury's shoulders. I jumped down off Fredo and ran to his sister's side. "Dr. Brennan", I shouted as I reached for her hand.

She was gripped on so tight, it was unbelievable. Well, not quite as she had a perfectly good excuse as she had just travelled at nearly close to the speed of sound, unsaddled. She opened her eyes and smiled at me, and I smiled back, what a gentleman I am. I helped her down off her dragon as the dust settled, and my father became aware of the situation. "Miss Brennan", he said in a tone I have heard all too often, "Do you know how much stress you have caused me?".

"It is Dr. Brennan actually. I couldn't possibly know how much stress you experienced without you telling me", she told him.

She wasn't joking about that, she was being serious. All I wanted to do was laugh at my dad's face, because he knew she was being serious, it is just her timing was so witty, it confused him. He had to think for a while for a good comeback. "I have never been so worried since he-", the finger was pointed in my direction, "first flew".

"You don't have to worry about me; I can't take plenty good care of myself, something that I tell my partner all too often. And now to add to that, I have Mandible who wouldn't let anything happen to me", she said, placing a hand upon her dragon.

"Mandible?", I questioned her.

"Yes, her name is Mandible. I named her like you asked", she replied back to me.

I looked at 'Mandible'. She had changed since yesterday. She was now more focused, taking in everything around her, like she did ten years ago. Her ears listening to every little noise whilst her eyes stayed fixed on the doctor, making sure no harm came to her. Mandible had grace of a mature Night Fury, one twice her age. Night Furies live to an excess of about fifty years. Did I mention that? Well, I have now. Also, from just watching Fredo and the other dragons, I knew that they knew she was boss. Great, that would make things a lot harder when it came to training.

"You named her Mandible?", my dad asked, confused as the rest of us were.

"Yes, after a conversation about a possible murder victim", she told him, when something clicked in her head, "Oh God. I have to go and make a phone call, now, so pleases excuse me".

She started to sprint up the hill towards the hut, while her dragon, Mandible just sat in the middle of the square. We glared at this dragon, wondering what to do with such a beast. "Can I have that saddle measured up please", the doc shouted at us, "I'll be back soon".

We watched as the door to my cabin shut. Mandible sat there looking at us as if to say, 'C'mon then. What are you waiting for?'. My dad gave a slight nod, and the village got back to business, if not just a bit cautious about the Night Fury sitting patiently in the centre of the square. I turned to face my dad, who had the village's blacksmith standing by him. The man was big and round, with dyed green hair spiked up into a Mohawk. He took in a large breath, before walking towards Mandible behind me, wielding a measuring tape.

* * *

Brennan rushed into her room, ripping off her clothes; first a shower, then the Jeffersonian. It was like a typical evening sometimes with Booth. He would come and pick her up in the late evening, and then come about six the next morning, on the way to the Jeffersonian after investigating the crime scene, they would stop at her apartment for her to change quickly for the rest of the day. After coming out of the en-suit clean and changed, she went over to her bed and took her laptop out from her bag.

She switched it on and automatically connected to the islands new Wi-Fi. She must have been one of the only few to ever use it, as she doubted that many of them owned a home computer. She opened up her home page on the internet, and before immediately, before she could even read her emails, the window popped up for confirmation to connect with Angela. She clicked the mouse on yes, and Angela's face filled the screen.

"Hey Sweetie, you sleep well?", she asked.

"Um, yeah, I think so", she couldn't remember falling asleep.

"Good, well, it is seven here, and Booth got us all to come in early, on a Sunday as well".

"Well, it is midday here, and I haven't had breakfast yet".

"Jet lag, it gets to the best of us", Angela smiled.

"_Is that Bones?"_, Brennan heard Booth shout from off camera.

"Yeah Booth, I'll switch screens now to the main lab okay?", she told him, looking in the direction of the door to her office, "So Sweetie, see you in a moment okay?".

"Um, okay", and the screen switched to the lab platform where Hodgins, Cam, Booth, and for some reason Sweets were waiting.

"Hey Bones, how is the weather?", Booth said as they all perked up.

"Sunny actually", she told him, glancing out of the window.

"Good, so we need your help", Cam said, pointing to the examining table.

A skeleton was laid out on the examining table. There was a layer of soil covering the bone, but had dried out most likely as if was falling off like dust. "Cam, can you zoom in on the mandible fracture?", Brennan asked, something was upsetting her about this body.

"Yeah sure", Cam answered as the camera zoomed in on the said fracture, "Is Glasgow nice?".

"I haven't seen much of it yet", Brennan told Cam as she stared at the bone.

"Is that all you have to say?", Sweets queried.

"No, the local population is very friendly", she told him as she came to a conclusion about the bone, "I don't think this is a murder victim".

"What the... why?", Booth squeaked, shocked by his partners decree, "Look at the bone, it must be a murder victim".

"Where was it found", Brennan asked as the camera zoomed out.

"Under an uprooted oak tree", Hodgins told her, as he showed her the crime scene photos.

"I think you will find that the skeleton is older than the tree", she told them all, sitting back on her bed.

"Well that would explain why neither my sketch nor dentals matched up with anyone", Angela said, showing everyone a drawing of a young girl.

"So definitely not murder?", Booth checked.

"Not murder. The crack in the mandible was most likely caused by the roots of the trees, trying to grow through the bone", Brennan told them.

"Well, that was a waste of an early Sunday morning", Hodgins moaned, removing his plastic gloves.

"Not necessarily", Cam stopped him, "You can help me finish up with my room".

"Oh joy", Booth muttered sarcastically.

"What all of us?", Sweets squeaked, he had only come in to do a profile on the murderer.

"Yes, all of you", Cam told them, hands on hips.

"Not me, I'm in Glasgow remember", Brennan jumped in.

"Don't remind us", Booth glared at her.

There was a knock at Brennan's door. The whole team watched as she sat up, on her bed, repositioning herself. The door creaked open, and Bart pooped his head through. "Uh, Dr. Brennan", he started; a little nervous, afraid that he was interrupting.

"Come in Bart", Brennan told him.

"What are doing with one of the Simpsons Bren?", Angela asked over the webcam.

"Who is that?", Bart asked as he creeped in.

"It's my team", she told him, lifting the laptop to show him, "Say hi".

Five faces waved at him, and he waved back, smiling as he always did. "Wow, you are cute. How old are you?", Angela asked, stepping forward.

Brennan lifted the laptop back up, and turned it around so her team couldn't see him. "leave him alone Ange", Brennan told her best friend off, "What is it that you want Bart?".

Bart thought hard at how he was going to ask his question without letting her friends onto anything, especially that Ange person. "McCullough was wondering would you like black or red?", he asked.

"Black or red what?", Brennan asked him, she wasn't making this cover up easy for either of them.

Bart sighed, he could have screamed at her. How much of an idiot was he going to look now? He gestured his best a saddle, and he must have been good at charades as she got the point quickly. "Whatever is quickest. Tell him I'll come finish up with the skull in a few minutes", she told him, her friends still watching.

He nodded and left. Brennan then turned her attention back to her friends. They all looked at her in amazement. They thought her personality had changed, it would of helped if they knew the situation, but things had to be covered up. "Whatever is quickest?!", Hodgins parroted.

"What has happened to you Bones?", Booth asked his partner, "You would never say that about a body or anything for that matter".

"Well, we are short on time her", she said standing up for herself, "It seemed the most logical thing to tell him".

"What was that about anyway?", Sweets asked, doing his psychology analysis thing.

"Uh, I have to go, speak to you all later", she said to them standing up off her bed.

Booth saw she was avoiding him, so he joined in. It was the best thing in the world annoying Sweets, especially when he is on to something. That something Booth would have to find out from his partner later. "Okay Bones, speak to you soon", he said smiling before switching the camera off.

Brennan shut the laptop, and grabbed a jacket with zips off a chair. She would need a secure place to hold all her belongings when flying. She was now wearing a pair of jeans, a yellow T-shirt, and the black jacket. Her hair looked better than it did earlier that morning, maybe because a brush had been through it now, and makeup was not worth the effort.

She went over to the door hastily, only to discover Bart sitting on the floor outside. He had a box with him; an ominous sign. He jumped up as she exited her room. "Can I help you Bart?", she asked him, thinking she had rid of the boy.

He thrust the box forward at her, "Mandible helped us out with size. She already knows you very well".

Brennan nervously opened the box. Wrapped up with some tissue paper were black high top converse trainers. Every girl's worst nightmare, she had to change her shoes. She pulled one out and examined it. It was the right size, and the fabric smelt new. "We all wear them. They are the only shoe proven to stay on your feet no matter what", Bart told her, "You don't have to put them on, but we thought it would be a nice gift for you".

"Thanks. I'll consider wearing them", she asked as they began down the hallway to the living room, "How is the saddle coming?".

"The blacksmith says he will be done after lunch", he told Brennan as they walked through over to the door, "Good thing you didn't mind what colour 'cause you can have my spare black one. Very comfy, never been used. But for now, there is a very hungry Night Fury outside which I suggest you feed soon".

**AN: Thanks for all of the reviews, favourites and alerts so far. I wouldn't mind if you kept them coming. Don't think there will be anymore updates for a good week as I have a Spanish GCSE oral next Friday, and revision has taken over my brain. So thanks again, and if you haven't reviewed, please do, it makes me feel so much better. Stitch**


	4. Lego Men and Cliff Diving

"You know Cam, you could have your own museum with just the contents of your cupboard", Jack Hodgins said as he took out yet another dusty, junked filled, falling apart cardboard.

"That is why we are emptying it. I'll soon have to start charging to enter there", she laughed as he placed this latest box down on the examining table.

"Well, I feel very good about it", Angela smiled as she and Hodgins opened up the box, "I have accumulated a pile of paper clips, seven hardly used pencils, a disposable camera, and a lovely mug which after it has been disinfected, cleaned, and possibly repainted, will be the perfect paintbrush holder".

The yellow duck tape peeled off nicely, taking the top layer of cardboard with it, to reveal the contents of the next box. Booth reached in, and took out a white plastic ice cream tub. Through the translucent white plastic he could see multicoloured blocks of something. He shook it lightly, and it made the rattling noise, indicating what he thought was in there, was what he thought. He popped the lid open, and recognised the toy Parker loved so much. Booth was still finding pieces in his sofa and under the furniture. "Hey guys look, Lego", he laughed as he slowly poured the blocks out onto the table.

"Who was this dude?", Sweets asked, as he took out another box full of the blocks.

"I can't really remember him, can you Ange?", Jack asked as he picked up a piece and examined it.

"I think he retired just after we all started working together", she said as she put two pieces together, "But whoever he was, he had good taste".

"It is amazing how a simple toy like this can bring out anyone's creative inner child", Sweets said, as he and the others started putting blocks together.

"Well, who is going to have it all?", Cam asked, focused on her small creation.

The three men shot their heads up and looked at each other, all grinning. Cam and Angela, curious by the silence, lifted their heads to see the guys sharing glances between each other. "Oh God Cam, they are having a male moment", Angela smiled.

"A very rare occasion then", the boss smiled, leaning backwards.

"Gentlemen", Hodgins started, "I challenge you to a building contest".

"Who will be the judge though", Sweets asked, a cunning tone in his voice.

"We will have the honour", Angela said, putting one arm over Cam's shoulder.

"And if we can't decide, we will have Dr. B be head judge", Cam told them, smiling with Angela, "Whatever she says, goes".

"Done", Booth said as he took a pile of the building blocks, then running to Bones' office to start building.

"Done", Hodgins said, as he leaped over for another pile of the material, and ran to his room.

"Why am I always last", Sweets said looking at the miniature pile he had been left with, before running off with it to Angela's office.

"Well, at least we can now go through this stuff without any groans about our conversation choices", Cam said as she lifted out a load of papers.

"Just wonder who the first to finish will be?", Angela replied, looking at the separate rooms.

* * *

Mandible gulped down an almighty pile of fish, yet still wanted more. Brennan had discovered that it was tradition to eat with your dragon and the rest of their kind and their riders. That meant that Bart had taken her to a secluded place up on the mountain, with a cart full of fish, with two dragons following in great haste. She helped him on the last leg, even though he said he needed no help, she could tell he did. It didn't help his defence that he was huffing and puffing, and having to stop every now and again.

Fredo had finished eating and was now sitting on the edge of an outcrop, gazing at the village below, with Bart spread out in the grass, taking in the rare sunlight. He must have noticed last night that she was a vegetarian, or someone did anyway, as a salad, vegetarian crisps, cheese sandwiches, and a pot of pasta had been packed for them to eat. The only bit of meat was in Bart's lamb sandwiches which he ate before either dragon could get a hold of them.

She stared at her dragon who was wanting more. She sighed before throwing her the last fish. It went down in one, and a fiery burp followed that. Bart laughed, clenching his stomach as he rolled over onto his front. "She is great", he laughed, looking up at the doctor.

"She reminds me of Booth a bit", she laughed with the boy, as Mandible went to join her brother, "Over protective, yet the best company".

"Yeah, well Fredo is the comedian of the dragon world. Flying into cliffs, farting in mid flight, and accidentally on purpose poured a bucket of cold wet fish on my father's head", he laughed further.

"They must all be characters then", she stated to him, observing the two dragons rolling their eyes at the two humans.

"More than you know", Bart said before lying back down into the grass, "It's nice to have company up here".

"Yes. It is not ideal to eat on your own", Brennan told him, before crunching on a piece of celery.

"You know, I would look at Mandible all day long, wondering what she must have been thinking every day before you came", he sighed, "It was quite depressing actually, watching her fade away like that".

"I'm sorry, but I didn't know that she had chosen me. She didn't really let in on it back then", Brennan told the boy, feeling that it was somehow her fault in one way.

"It is not your fault. Some dragons take a long while to realise who they have chosen".

"How?".

"Okay, well, when you look over a body, you examine every minute detail before making any vital decisions right?".

"Yes, sometimes it takes days".

"Well, it was like that for her. It only took you leaving for her to realise it. She couldn't follow you because she didn't really know you, and by the time she knew who you were to her, your scent had long gone".

"Right, but we have the 'bond' now", she said, psychology, again.

"Yes", he said, sitting up, "And tomorrow, we will start to harness that bond".

"I don't know what you mean", she said, looking at him with a confused expression on her face.

"You are joining me in dragon training. I only began a few months ago, and I think my group would be suitable for you".

"I'm going to learn alongside teenagers?".

"Yes, and you have a lot to catch up on", he said looking at his watch; "Your saddle will be ready. C'mon, I know a short cut".

He helped her stand. To sum Temperance's feelings right now in one word; terrified. "I really don't like the sound of this", she said to him as he led her to the side of the cliff.

* * *

I held her hand, looking the 500metre drop below. The two dragons on either side, backed off. I tightened the rucksack on my back, and looked down. I know people say you should never look down from heights, but I'm not people. I'm Bart McCullough, Night Fury rider extraordinaire, and avid show off. I looked at the doctor; she was staring at the space below, all different situations forming in her head, like she probably did when solving a murder. I let go of her hand slowly, she didn't even notice, and I attached my safety rope around her belt.

My next move, made the doctor who has faced down death too many times and survived scream. I jumped off the cliff, her in tow. The air was rushing past our ears, and I released the safety latch, attaching us to each other. She continued to scream, and tried her best to slow herself down, frantically moving her limbs in the air. Then I heard the whistled, and two black objects zoomed past us. I looked down, and two Night Furies opened their wings. We hit them, and Dr. Brennan gripped onto Mandible for her life. Mandible and Fredo gave out a dragon laugh, as we levelled out, slowly descending to the village.

She opened her eyes, clinging onto the two small outgrowths of scales which Night Furies use in hearing. It doesn't hurt them, but it isn't the nicest sensation for them either. It will be a good thing when we land and they will have a proper saddle. Dr. Brennan looked at me like she could kill me, no jokes people, it was a serious look. "I could have died", she shouted at me as we went over the first few houses.

"But you survived", I shouted back, "Mandible, town square".

The dragon registered my orders and she banked round in the opposite direction to Fredo and I. We came in a loop formation, and my father, along with the blacksmith were waiting by the phone box. A group of Deadly Nadders flew off one of the roofs as we flew over. Fredo landed with a bump, whist Mandible landed gracefully. Girls, always the delicate approach, but I was yet to find out that I was completely wrong about that.

I hopped off, and as I turned around, something hit me in the arm. "Jeez!", I shouted, then looking up to realise who had actually hit me.

"You could have killed me", she shouted at me as my dad came running over.

"Bart, what did you do?", he shouted at me.

"Jumped of the cliff", I said, doing my best to bury my head in my shoulders.

"Taking me with him", Dr. Brennan added.

My dad thumped me in the other arm. Not as hard, but still, I probably deserved it. Then he started laughing. I looked up at him. His beard moving and all, but the doctor just stood there. "My boy, she is too old for ya", he said to me, patting me on the back.

"Excuse me?", Dr. Brennan asked, shocked by my father.

The blacksmith had joined us by now, and was also laughing with my dad. Well, I was sort of laughing too now. I can't believe what I had done. "My dear lady", the blacksmith started, "It is routine for boys to pull girls off that cliff as a sort of... date request".

"A date request?", she screamed, looking at me.

"I'm sorry", I laughed, "I've done it so many times on my own before, the symbolism didn't sink in".

She stared at me, hands on hips and all. My dad saw this, and stopped laughing. Women gestures, it was something we all had to learn. Seriousness returned to the conversation, and my dad coughed, symbolising the end. "Bart, just don't do that ever again", my dad told me, "Would you like to see your saddle now?".

He pointed over to the railing outside the blacksmith's workshop. There sitting proudly on its own, gleaming in our all too rare sunlight, was my other saddle. It had been shined up, adjusted, and gold writing was punched into the side. "That's my old dusty black saddle?", I questioned.

"Yes, and hasn't O'Malley done a wonderful job", my father said, patting the blacksmith on the back.

Mandible leaped over to it and began to sniff at the leather. Fredo soon joined her, sniffing the polish, registering the scent. "C'mon Dr. Brennan", I said as us three men began walking over.

She just stood there, mesmerised by the sight. Mandible popped up from behind her, and began enthusiastically pushing her forward. All the doctor needed was a little nudge, and she was flying, running as fast as she could to her new possession.

The black leather was smooth. A handrail sat on top, and the safety rope was waiting ready for them. Extra material had been added onto the back, my idea may I add, so she could carry all her stuff, or even a passenger if she felt like it. And on either side, gold letters read; Bone Team, Tempe and Mandi.

I watched as they doc smiled. She ran her fingers over all the details. She laughed as she read the text, her fingers writing the letters. "Bart, help with this will ya boy", O'Malley said to me as he began to lift the saddle.

We lifted the saddle, and Dr. Brennan got Mandible to be still. Hard thing I know for an excited dragon and it didn't help that Fredo was getting wound up, bouncing around the place like a spring lamb. We threw the saddle onto the dragon's shoulders, a perfect fit. O'Malley crawled underneath and did up the buckle whilst I levelled out the material on top. "Okay Miss Brennan", O'Malley began, "There is a tracking device built into the saddle, and in case of emergency, there is a flare and walkie talkie that is connected back here to the island".

Mandible knew when we were done as she rose onto her hind legs, and let out a roar of pleasure. She landed, and gave me a look. The doctor, even though Mandible was her dragon, knew nothing of these looks, and stood there waiting as I ran to Fredo, and my father and O'Malley stepped back. As I jumped onto Fredo, I pulled out the doc's shoe box, and rode him over to Mandible. I strapped the box onto the extra material with the bungees, before Mandible whipped her tail around, throwing the doc in the air, for her to land on her shoulders. It seemed that the dragon favourite this move, a cool one that I'm sort of jealous about.

I watched as the safety rope clicked on from the magnetism, and Mandible took this as a sign, and did a vertical takeoff. The doc seemed more at ease now, clinging onto the handles, feet sunk into the pockets on the saddle. We flew straight up into the clouds, smiling as we went.

* * *

"How long has it been now?", Cam asked as she and Angela began on the last box.

"Four hours, and many brick swaps", she replied.

The two women had made amazing progress since the men went off to start building with the Lego. They had found more deep within the cupboard, along with old x-rays, documents for the bodies in Limbo, and a collection of tapes. Along with the tapes, was a brand new in the day tape player, and in the last box, contained another. "This dude must have been so cool", Angela said as she looked through the collection of music.

"Makes you wonder how much stuff he actually took with him", Cam added.

"DONE", came from three different directions.

The guys had finished, and came running up to the platform, cradling their pieces of art like babies. The all se them down on the table, and looked at Cam and Angela, ready for them to begin Judging. Sweets had built a car. There was a little yellow man sitting at a steering wheel at the front, with a lady sitting next to him. The car was black, and Sweets for some reason had put red and blue bricks on top. "It is Booth and Brennan", he said, admiring his work.

The women continued onto Hodgins' masterpiece. It was in fact a roofless building, a floor plan more than anything else. But inside, was the best. Outside, it was all grey with long window spaces and columns, but inside it was bright white and chaotic. There were little yellow men and women everywhere. There was one pushing a trolley with another lying on top. There were a few rooms off to the side, one had the little blue books stuffed wherever Hodgins had found space, and another had spades, forks and spoons, knives all hanging or sitting on worktops. But the thing that did it for all of them was a raised platform area in the middle with a table and one little man lying down on it. Surrounding the table were six figures, some at computers, two facing each other, and one had a hand on the person on the table. "Hey, it's the Jeffersonian", Angela said as she picked up the figure which was meant to be her.

"But Sweets has the better Booth and Brennan", he said pointing to the two arguing, "Maybe later we could act out a murder and mix up our two sets!".

"Not before mine is judged", Booth jumped in.

Cam and Angela looked over to him. He was standing proud, and he should be as his item was dazzling. "Wow Booth", Hodgins said as he looked at the object built before him.

Booth had made a 50cm long, 20cm wingspan, and 10cm tall dragon. It was completely black, and two little blue squares represented its eyes. The wings actually moved up and down, and the tail could move back and forth. But atop of his masterpiece sat a figure; it was Viking.

"I really don't know what to say", Cam said as she looked at all three projects.

"I wouldn't be able to decide a winner in a million years", Angela added.

"Well, let's get Bones on the webcam ASAP and find out who is the winner", Booth said.

"Twice in one day", Angela said, "plus she is sort of meant to be on holiday".

"Plus it will be biased", Sweets added, "She will most likely choose Booths because he made it".

"Okay, we will not let her know who built what then", Hodgins told them.

"But we still have to find out if she can speak to us or not", Cam said jumping in.

Booth took out his phone, and put it to his ear. "Let's just hope she isn't in the middle of anything", he told them, looking at his watch, "It is only half five there, she shouldn't be in bed yet".

* * *

Temperance threw herself down onto her bed. They had spent the whole afternoon working out all the features to her saddle. She and Mandible now had a sort of way of communicating with each other which involved little nudges. Said dragon was now perched above her on the beams, preening her tail. Bart told them there was no large feast this evening, but pointed her towards a small hidden fridge within her room where he kept his midnight feast supplies if she didn't feel like joining he and his father for dinner. Bart would cover; something Booth would do for her.

Dragon training was to begin early tomorrow, something like eightish. Jet lag would get the better of her if she didn't at least attempt to get to sleep. She sat up, and peeled her shoes off, not the converses, her low heel boots. Her feet were hot and sticky, throbbing after being on for a whole afternoon of flying. Then, her phone began buzzing.

Without even looking at who was calling she answered, "Brennan".

"Hey Bones, could you turn the webcam on", Booth asked.

"Why?", she asked as she reached over for the laptop which she had abandoned on her bed.

"We need you to judge something fairly", he told her as he heard her laptop come on.

"Okay, give me a few minutes", she said before hanging up.

The desktop popped up, and the request to join the Jeffersonian was the first thing she saw. She clicked to accept, and the lab popped up, the five of them all huddled around a table. "Hey Sweetie", Angela said as she stepped forward, "Where is that hunky Scot?".

"At home eating with his family", Brennan told her, unaware that Mandible had stopped dead in her tracks after hearing Angela's voice.

"Drat, I was hoping he could...".

"Ange, he is only sixteen", she cut in.

"Well...".

"No! Now what is it you wanted?", she asked her.

"You need to judge these Bones", Booth said, pointing to three objects on the table.

"What are they?", she asked as she bent in closer.

But as her friends described the projects, Mandible landed softly, and was now creeping towards the back of the laptop. It was a new situation for her, never seeing or hearing a webcam conversation, and natural instincts took over. She crept slowly across the wooden floor, no creaks, no sound. Temperance was talking to her friends when she bent her head over the laptop, to see what her rider was up to. Thank fully, she was out of shot, and the people she was talking to, couldn't see Mandible, otherwise, the secret would have been out.

"Okay Bren, which one do you want", Angela asked her friend.

"Booth's car, the Jeffersonian, or the dragon", Cam read through the list.

Brennan heard Mandible snort slightly, and looked upwards. "Dragon", she said, and Booth started to celebrate.

"Thanks so much Dr. B", Cam said, looking at Booth, doing some sort of celebratory dance.

"Anytime", she laughed as Booth picked up his dragon and put it close to the camera lens, "I'll uh, speak to you guys tomorrow then".

"Yeah, when we are all back to sex, money, and jealousy motivated murders", Jack Hodgins stated as he and Sweets arranged the Lego ready to start the little role play they had spoke about earlier.

"I have a good five more days until that though", Brennan told them.

"Don't be too sure about that Sweetie", Angela told her.

"We may need advice with all the interns out of action", Cam added.

"Okay, well just give me a five minute warning before hand", Tempe told them as she sat up.

"Alright. Good Night Dr. B", Cam said.

"Night Bones", Booth shouted from somewhere off screen.

* * *

There was an annoying buzzing above her head somewhere. Temperance had gone to bed really early last night, and now it was time to get up for dragon training. She opened her eyes, and above her, was her alarm, in the mouth of her dragon. Mandible released the object and it landed in Tempe's lap, still beeping. It read 7:30. The equivalent to 2:30 back home in DC. Angela was right about the jet lag, it was absolute hell.

Temperance sat up and rubbed her eyes. The sun was shining through the gaps in her curtains to reveal that Mandible had pulled out all her clothes and had made a pile of them in the centre of the room. To add to things, it looked as though she had slept on them like a nest. The dragon pounced over to the pile and took out a pair of jeans and a white three quarter length shirt. She placed in on the end of Temperance's bed before bounding over to another pile she had made; her shoes. The dragon stuck her head into the pile and took out the pair of converses Bart gave her yesterday, and tossed them over her shoulders, and they happened to land at the foot of the post where her clothes had been hung.

Tempe laughed at her dragon, as she then jumped onto her bed and began pushing her out. Tempe jumped out, and grabbed her clothes to change in the bathroom. All the time she could hear Mandible sniffing at the base of the door, snorting every so often. She sat down on the edge of the bath as she did up the laces of the converses, tight as she could like Bart had suggested.

As she opened the door, on the other side waiting was Mandible doing the best sort of smile as she could. Brennan smiled back, grabbed her bag, and did her best to get Mandible to be still. It was like trying to control a hyperactive toddler. Mandible finally became still long enough for Tempe to attach her bag to the saddle, and clip on the safety cord, ready for any hiccups along the way.

Brennan directed the animal to the door, and pulled her along the hall to where the chief looked as though he had just woken up. His beard was a mess, and he was wearing stripped pyjamas. "Morning Dr. Brennan", he yawned, "did you sleep well?".

"Yes thank you, did you?", she asked him, trying to be nice.

He nodded his head as he reached into a cupboard and pulled out a box of cereal. "Is Bart up", she asked him, looking for her companion in dragon training.

"Oh he left about six this morning. He likes to get extra done before the lesson begins. Bit like I was you know, eager to start flying", he mumbled.

Tempe smiled at him as she pulled Mandible towards the front door. The boy had left without her, and she had no clue as to where she was going. Mandible was her only hope. As the dragon entered into the outside world, all of her senses went into action. She bounced around, tugging at the safety cord. Brennan pulled hard at it, and the dragon came to a standstill. "Okay Mandible", Brennan started as she climbed up onto the dragon's shoulders, "Take us to wherever dragon training is".

Mandible began to run and flap her wings. Soon they had lift, and she headed around to the other side of the mountain. It was mostly rock, but as Brennan concentrated, she focused in on a small arena cut into the rock. In the centre she could see about eight dragons, one most definitely Fredo, and four human figures. Teenagers were so tall these days; it was hard to tell who the teacher in the group was.

Mandible banked around, and landed smoothly in a little run type move. Brennan unclipped her, and hopped down off Mandible. "Good we are all here", an older woman from the middle of the group of teens said as she marched forward, "Dr. Brennan, I'm Aidan, the dragon trainer".

She was about forty, and of average height. She had dyed her hair a bright vibrant red, which was cut short. Her eyes were a piercing green colour, and she wore a carky green army outfit, and had a large bag, most likely full of fish on her back.

"Nice to meet you", she said as she was led over to the teens.

"You know Bart, I 'ope. This is Betha", she pointed to the blonde girl next to Bart, then to the tall dark haired boy, "And this strapping young lad is Caley".

"Pleasure to meet you both", Dr. Brennan told the teens.

"Okay, so dragons are Caley's Gronckle Brazil", Aidan pointed to large fat stumpy dragon on its bag asleep by Fredo, "And Betha's Deadly Nadder Blue", she pointed to a blue dragon sitting like an ostrich by them.

"And the fellas over there are trainees", she pointed to a collection of dragons on the other side of the ring, "One of each of the common species of dragon we have here. The big red one is a Monstrous Nightmare, the one with two heads is a Hideous Zippleback, and the little ones running around are Terrible Terrors".

"They all have splendid names", Tempe said as she looked about the group.

"Yeah, but we are not here to talk. You have a lot to catch up on doc", Aidan said as she grabbed the safety cord of a passing by Nadder, "Right, I want a warm up lap of the island, then we are going to practice loops. Go!".

The teens all ran to their dragons, and were up in the air before Temperance had even taken a breath. She looked around to see Aidan had disappeared with the other dragons, and she was standing alone with Mandible. She ran to her dragon who was up in the air before Tempe had a chance to attach the safety cord. She fumbled about with the cord, and then as soon as that task was completed, Mandible shot forward at such a pace. They caught up with the group, and all flew in unison around the island.

"Bone Team", Aidan shouted across to them, "Fly up, and I want you to dive first towards the ring, and then pull up at the last second to slow down for landing".

Tempe nodded, and pulled slightly upwards on the handle bars. Mandible reacted immediately, and they were flying high into the sky. Through the clouds they went, and Tempe let Mandible decide what was high enough to start the dive. They peaked at a point, then Mandible flipped over and they began heading down. Brennan bent inwards into her dragon to increase the streamline flow of the air. The air began to whistle around them and the ground was getting closer and closer. Brennan being Brennan with her high IQ and natural athletic ability which she always claimed to Booth to have, left it to the absolute last second to signal to Mandible to pull up.

Mandible opened her wings, and the force threw Tempe back in the saddle. They landed softly in the ring where the others were waiting. "I'm impressed", Aidan said as the group walked the dragons over to her.

"That is so not fair", Caley grumbled as he sat back on his Gronckle.

"I can't even do that yet!", Bart exclaimed.

"How fast do you think you were going?", Betha squeaked.

"I really don't want to know", Brennan said.

"Well, I think we will have no problem getting onto the advanced stuff today", Aidan told the group, "We finished basics last week, and were hoping you would catch up quick for us to get onto the good stuff".

"The good stuff?".

"High speed flying, aerobatics, and death defying stunts, that sort of thing you know. If you fly when you can this week, you and Mandible will have no problem keeping up".

* * *

**AN: Thanks for all of the reviews so far, they make revising go so much better. This has only been accomplished today because I gave up an hour of sleep each night of this week to write this. So, this morning, there was no shock to me when I found that I woke up at eleven. If you haven't reviewed yet, please do. Thanks again, Stitch.**


	5. Two People

Okay, if I was to be perfectly honest with you, I am so jealous right now. How can someone who has never really had a proper experience with dragons pull off a dive like that? I have lived with dragons my whole life, and been flying longer than she has, so why can't I do that. Every time Fredo and I have tried that, we have ended up in the sea. And now, Aidan has decided that we can move onto the advanced stuff as long as she practises after and before lessons. What is up with that, Aidan would have not let anyone else join our class at her level. She would have made the doc go away and come back in September with the rookies next year.

I'm brought out of my long glare at the woman I have to be nice to by Caley. It is so nice to have a friend like him. "Dude, just leave it will ya?", he says to me just as the biggest bite of a chicken sandwich you would have ever seen in life entered his mouth.

"It's not healthy Bart to be jealous of someone you are sharing a house with", Betha commented.

"Well", I started as I threw Fredo a fish, "It's okay for a little bit of healthy competition".

"Bart, just don't go over the top man. Remember you and Alex", Caley told me before another bite.

"Yeah, I know. We both ended up in the sea. But she doesn't have to know", I told him as I glanced over at the two women.

"I bet she will win", Caley mumbled.

"Yeah, well... let's make this a money bet then. I bet twenty quid that I can beat her with another stunt", I said as I slapped down the purple paper in the centre of our small circle.

"You're on!", Caley shouted as he slapped down two tens, "For the title of King of the Island".

Betha reached in for the money, she knew that she was bank lady just from our looks, "Or queen don't forget".

I smiled and looked over at the doc. Unless she did something so much better than that dive, I have already won. With a smirk on my face, I continued with my lunch.

* * *

"So, you train dragons?", Brennan questioned the trainer over her salad.

"Yeah. I can ride any dragon as I'm never close enough to one for them to imprint on me", Aidan replied as she mixed about her tuna and sweet corn into mayonnaise for her sandwich, "The only dragon I can't ride is the Night Fury. I'd get my head bitten off if I did".

She looked at Mandible, who was giving her an evil looking glare. Brennan had started to realise that these dragons actually understood English, sometimes better than some humans. So, her dragon knew what they were talking about, and she wasn't happy about it. The two women laughed at the dragon, which gave her best sort of smile, and went back to eating her fish.

"And you solve murders for a living?", Aidan's turn to ask.

"My team and I, I'm the bone specialist there, and so my partner has given me a nickname. He calls me Bones, which I found strange when Bart thought up 'Bone Team'. I also write books" she said as she rummaged through her salad for a tomato.

"Bred in the Bone was excellent may I add", Aidan smiled, "What I would like to know, how have you been paired with a Night Fury then?".

"I came here ten years ago by accident, and according to Bart, it took Mandible a few days to realise it. By that time, I had left", she answered, as she found the pesky tomato.

There was silence for a few moments whilst the two women thought about the small conversation they had just shared. Aidan looked up from her tuna/sweet corn mixture, and felt very nervous when she noticed the boys making some sort of bet, even more so when she saw money was now involved.

"That doesn't look good", she said making Brennan turn.

"What are they doing?", Brennan asked, not all too familiar with teenage antics.

"Making a bet", Aidan said in a monochrome tone, "And if I know Bart, it is about you".

"Why? I haven't done anything".

"Oh yes you have B. You performed that dive. Bart hasn't even reached those speeds yet, but to my count, you have reached the speed of sound once before. Unsaddled".

"Oh. So what do I do?".

"Beat the little devil", Aidan smiled, "After lunch, I'll find out from Betha what it is all about, but my first guess it is about stunts".

"So I have to do something more stupid than him?".

"No, you are a better person than to go and throw yourself off a cliff. You need to do something that he could never do", Aidan said looking over at the boy, she spent way too much time around teenagers.

Brennan thought for a moment. Normally, she wouldn't even attempt to do anything like this, but Aidan had the Angela affect. Something which sounds stupid from anyone else's mouth sounds perfect from hers. And Brennan was getting talked into this more and more every second as she started to think about the situation. "Aidan, is there any chance you could stay behind with me after the lesson?".

"Yeah", she said slowly, "Your brain can't have seriously thought of something already?".

"Well I do have an IQ of...".

"Don't tell me, it will only make me feel worse. It's one now, and we are due to finish at three after our next bit of fun, so yeah. Suppose we can sort something out".

Brennan smiled and looked over at Bart. Unless he did something life threatening she had already won. With a smirk on her face, she continued with her lunch.

* * *

Having a week off is the best thing in the world, if you have someone to share it with. You are just lonely if you can't do anything because all the people you know are in work. So Booth was stumped as to what to do. Rebecca had phoned him, which happened to wake him up at um... cough... ten... to ask him if he could pick Parker up from school for the rest of the week.

That for Booth was the best thing to happen to him this week so far, next to the lie in. He would have his boy for least two hours a day this week, and now he had all the Lego from the squints, they could have some serious fun. But Booth groaned as he left his room and saw all the boxes in his apartment. In one corner it reached the ceiling, and Sweets and Hodgins had been so kind last night to bring it all home. And his dragon sat proudly on his windowsill, guarding his cramped front room.

He threw himself onto the sofa with a cup of coffee in his hands and turned on the news. There was the usual, Volcanic Ash cloud, court cases, TV show finales, the recession, but the last item caught his eye. There had been an explosion on the top floor of one of the many skyscrapers in New York. No, actually not on the top floor, the roof where there was no access at all. A map popped open, and like normal, the media tried to interoperate the explosions as it seemed they were heading south. Also, another thing about them, once fire crews had put out the flames, a symbol appeared burnt into the concrete. Booth couldn't call it cement otherwise the Bones in his brain would tell him off.

He sighed as he leaned back into the horrible sofa that he owned. Maybe he could convince Bones to by him a new one, or at least put in a small donation to it. He could convince her with the story that the doctor recommended he have a new one because of his back. Yeah, that way he could get a top of the range one.

Something flashed across the screen. A big flash of blue ripped from the darkness above the New York skyline, and erupted into flame on top of one of the skyscrapers. The newswoman whose top was way too low, began to explain very enthusiastically that this was footage of the explosion, and they now had some randoms they had probably picked off from the street thinking that it was aliens. Booth laughed and turned off the TV.

One last gulp of coffee was ruined by the fact the phone rang. The home phone. And only six people knew where he was, that is why Rebecca had phoned him on his cell. "What do the squints want now?", he asked himself as he stood.

Not looking at the caller ID, he answered the phone, "Bones, I'm not flying out to Scotland".

"Why would she want you to go to Scotland", Cam smiled on the other end.

"Cam, it is Bones. She would have found a murder or something all by herself. You know what she is like".

"Uh huh. Have you only just got up?".

"Um no. I have been up for about...", he took in a dramatic breath, "Half an hour".

"It is even worse than I thought", she laughed, "You got anything planned?".

"Pick up Parker at half three and hang with him for a bit. Why?".

"We need you to stab the body again".

"If that had come from anyone else's mouth Cam that would have sounded so wrong".

"I'll see you in half an hour then".

"If I can get past all the Lego", and with a smile on his face, he hung up.

* * *

The three teenagers collapsed at the top of the mountain. For Aidan, it was brilliant to see them coming up here unaided by dragon power. Sadly, her fun was ruined by the fact Brennan had made it all the way up, no complaints, and wasn't even breathless. She set down her bag of fish, and looked about her students. "I never want to use my feet ever again", Bart complained as he lay flat in the grass with his eyes closed.

"C'mon you get up", Aidan kicked his foot, and with that he sat up and smiled, "You'll like this next bit".

"I'm not liking what is going through my mind", Brennan remarked as she looked around.

The dragons had been tied up back down in the ring, with a remote control lock which Aidan would release during her next lesson. This one was all about trust, and she just hoped there was a damn good enough bond between the Night Fury and doc; otherwise she would have to answer to her partner. Booth was it. Well, whatever his name was, she wasn't looking forward to the prospect that she might have to tell someone their partner died after throwing themselves off a mountain.

"Right then you ugly lot", Aidan smiled, "This next exercise is all about trust; Bart style".

"Oh God", Betha exclaimed as she sat up shocked.

"Is this a good idea Aidan?", Caley asked as he looked over the edge.

"Of course it is. It is the best way", the trainer replied, "If this fails, you know there are some things that need to be changed with your relationship with your dragon".

"If this fails, we will be dead", Brennan added.

"And you can't fail at that", Bart added, butterflies already in his stomach; there were some things he was even afraid to do.

Aidan took out a fish and wacked it in her hand like you see generals in war films do with a whip. She had a wicked smile on her face now, and her eyes looked mischievous. "So who is going to go first?", she asked, looking at them in turn.

Betha turned away, and Caley shook his head. Bart was fixated on the drop, and Brennan just looked at her like she had asked her to commit suicide. Well in one way, she had. With no eye contact heading her way apart from Brennan's, Aidan tried to sign to her to go first. The doc looked even more confused, so Aidan marched over, fish in hand. "If you go first, you will have another stunt over Bart", she whispered into the anthropologist's ear.

Brennan had a pained expression on her face, and took the fish from the trainer's hand. Unbeknownst to the teens who were all avoiding any eye contact and were trying their best to hide, didn't see the doc take a few steps back and crouch down. In a running start position, Brennan took some deep breaths. Booth would murder everyone on this idea if she died. Well, at least she knew that he would kill to avenge her.

She pushed off, and ran at full pelt, creating a dust cloud from the dry soil. She ran past Bart, who jumped and just watched. The other two were soon to follow and ran behind her to the edge of the cliff. And before they all knew it she was falling to her possible death. Aidan smiled, and released the lock to Mandible, and listened for the whoosh as the dragon did a vertical lift off. The two boys whistled and cheered as Mandible flew over their heads and down towards Brennan.

The air was rushing past her ears. Time seemed to slow down, and she began to think about the worst case possibility. Her friends thought she was in Glasgow. What would happen when they found out she wasn't? But before she could answer herself, a black object zoomed past, and two black wings opened out below her. With all the momentum of the fall, she hit Mandible, and like lightening attached the safety cord.

The dragon let out a small blue flame which erupted feet in front of them, and flew straight through it. "Oh great", Brennan said to herself as they approached it.

With the ends of her hair smoking, and her lovely white shirt covered in soot, they flew around the island in one swoop. One by one, Brennan heard the teens throw themselves off the cliff, Betha's screams echoing around the entire space. Soon, she was joined by four other dragons; another Night Fury, a Nadder, one exhausted looking Gronckle, and a Monstrous Nightmare.

They landed in the ring, and Bart and Caley high fived and whooped, the adrenaline still evident. Betha let out an almighty breath, and Brennan had a grin extending from one ear to another. The dragons too seemed jumpy, and all the riders moved up and down in their saddles as their friends jumped around.

"Okay, okay", Aidan started, seeing that she got no response from the teens at all, "GUYS!".

They all stopped, even if they had smiles that would most likely last late into the evening. "Right, tomorrow, we are going to practise the worst case scenario. I hope you have all seen what has been going on in New York, so as part of the new dragon training curriculum, we will be teaching you the vital skills to defend yourselves", Aidan said in a serious tone, "Meeting here again at half eight".

The teens all nodded, and in unison flew off. Mandible tugged to go with them, but Brennan nudged her and stopped her in her tracks. Aidan jumped off the red beast, and it flew off to the perch up above them with the rest of the trainee dragons. Brennan jumped down from Mandible, who looked rather confused. "So B, what have you got planned?", Aidan asked.

"Well, I hope Bart thinks that dive was enough", she laughed, "But just in case, I think I can beat your insanity".

"Okay", Aidan nodded, looking over the docs shoulder at Mandible to see her looking very nervous indeed, "Nothing to mentally damaging".

"Well, I'm worried about Mandible with this situation".

"Explain doc, because not everyone here has a PhD".

"You know you told me earlier about you being able to ride every dragon".

"Yeah but not the Night Furies because they are untrainable by others", Aidan confirmed, and started to think, "Oh God B. You must be kidding me".

"No, why would I?".

Aidan shook her literalness off, "Are you sure Mandible won't bite my head off".

"I don't know, but Bart did think of the idea first with the extra material", Brennan said as she called over Mandible.

Somehow, that didn't make Aidan feel a lot better. The dragon looked nervous as Aidan went around to the side and looked up at the saddle. Brennan tugged down on the safety cord, and the dragon lay down, looking over her shoulder at what her rider was doing. Brennan removed her bag from the bag of the saddle, and looked for the extra safety cord hidden under a small piece of material at the back of her saddle. She passed it down to Aidan who took it cautiously from her.

Mandible growled a deep growl from within her neck, and Brennan threw herself up onto the saddle. She gave the dragon a reassuring stroke behind the ears, before reaching down to help Aidan up. The dragon trainer looked terrified. She had flown on so many dragons before, but had never sat upon a Night Fury. She had once pinned down Fredo when he was just bigger than a smallish dog for his inoculations, but even then, it felt wrong.

She was soon up on the saddle, and Aidan could feel that Mandible didn't like it. Two people were strange to her, and Aidan was quick to attach the safety cord to her belt. Brennan turned around, nervous as the dragon was. "You ready?", Brennan asked, trying to be as reassuring as possible.

"As I'll ever be", she stammered out, very quietly.

"Okay Mandible, let's take this really slowly", Brennan patted the dragon, who decided that a running start was the best.

Aidan grasped onto the handle bars just in front of her, and closed her eyes for the first time during a dragon flight. She felt her stomach go as the first flap of the wings hit the air. Mandible bucked a little, and it seemed to settle the saddle for her, and suddenly, like something clicked, they were flying smoothly.

"It is irrational to close your eyes", Brennan laughed.

"Don't lecture me on irrationality when you came up with this idea", Aidan joined in as she opened her eyes to look at the doc.

She looked around. Mandible's wings flapped in a calm and gentle rhythm as they flew over the village. Aidan smiled to herself, as people looked up and waved at them. This was the best feeling in the world, and not even the end of the world could bring her down from up in the air now. "If anyone ever tells you that you are a horrible person B, send them to me and they will be sorted", Aidan laughed as they swopped around over the square.

Mandible, knowing what the two women were discussing let out a roar of pleasure. Even for her this was amazing. Her brother would be so jealous, and all of them could see Bart and Fredo doing their best to get a passenger to ride with them. That was never going to happen. As they flew over the square Bart and his three male friends cheered and whopped, but Bart felt the jealousy deep down. It was so on in his opinion.

They did one lap of the island before Brennan got Mandible to land back in the ring. The trainee dragons roared and flapped as they landed, and Mandible replied back with a low calming growl. Aidan was quick to get off, and stood back to watch Brennan hop off. Mandible was quick to fly up to the others, where quickly a grooming fest began.

"My God B that was so cool", Aidan said loudly as the doc picked up bag which she had abandoned in the middle of the ring.

"I thought what if my partner had to ride with us? You know, just in case something happened", she replied as she walked over to Aidan.

"Well you taking passengers may become a reality", Aidan stated.

"What?".

"Haven't you seen the news?".

"I don't own a television".

"You don't! Well Bart should have told you".

"Should have told me what?".

"I hope they told you Berk is the only safe place for dragons", Aidan looked deep into the doc, who nodded thankfully, "Well, all around the world there are places where dragons have colonised, one location on each continent, each run by a Night Fury rider. But these places they are not as safe as up here, even though they are seculed. But, the one in North America, there has been a lot of conflict lately, and the rest of us have lost track of who is the chief. Also, the conditions up there for dragons are horrible, in our community, that colony is the scum of the dragon riding community. The dragons are made to work no matter what for the humans who take advantage of them. Here, the dragons if they don't want to fly are not made to, but there...".

Aidan didn't even want to finish the sentence. For her, the way those dragons were treated was horrific. "Well, if I ever met one them... this colony is in the middle of the Hudson Bay. And it seems that the new Night Fury rider is heading south down the Eastern Seaboard of America, exploding the roofs of skyscrapers leaving this... this mark", Aidan shook her head, "It means war. Someone is calling dragon riders to war. But we are hoping that it never happens".

"Do you know what the war is about?".

"No, but we have to be prepared to protect this secret. The rest of the world isn't ready for the truth about dragons. Only the very few at the top of governments know about them, even then their knowledge is limited. We will just have to wait for the reasons to come forth, but in my opinion, it will be another looney thinking that he is better than the rest of us. And we have to be ready to put the scum back into place".

"So is that what you are going to teach us tomorrow, how to fight", Brennan had her hand on the trainers back now, doing her best comforting voice.

"We are going to go against the nature of dragons. Guns, Spears, Swords, Killing, none of these words are in their vocabulary", Aidan looked pained, her eyes holding back tears, "But they will soon learn them".

Brennan looked up at Mandible. If she had known they hated weapons she would have never come back to Berk. She had killed, wielded a weapon that caused death. And her partner carried one all the time. On average, she was never a metre away from a gun. She looked at her hand, like in Macbeth; she wouldn't ever be able to wash the blood off her hands.

* * *

Booth walked in through the front door. The glass separating as he got within a metre of them. His eyes went straight to the place where his people were standing, as if he had trained them to. Hands in pockets, he walked up the stairs, and saw the body set up for them to stab. Hodgins was fussing about with the knife, whilst the others watched and discussed something. For Cam and Angela it was most likely about shoes or some worthless gossip. And for Sweets who was talking to the working Hodgins, it could be about anything.

"Wow, dude you're actually awake", Hodgins said from in-between the legs of the mannequin.

"Such a surprise is it?", he laughed as he rested up on the railing next to Angela.

"Just a bit seeing Cam told us you have been up for a minimum of an hour", the artist smiled at him.

"I have an excuse today. I'm off work. What about you last week, you came in an hour late, what is your excuse", he glared at her, smile on his face.

Her expression told him that she was beaten as she gave him a set of evils. She smiled to herself as Hodgins stood and hit his head on the table. "So who is going to go first?", Sweets asked as he looked around at the group.

"As the boss, I have that honour", Cam said as she took the knife from the entomologist.

Fifteen minutes later, and many stabs, they were done. Hodgins sat at the computer as it processed the information. Boredom was getting the better of Booth as Sweets had now joined in the conversation with Angela and Cam, about what he wasn't really too fussed. Booth reached into the back pocket of his jeans and took out his phone. He flipped it open, but there was nothing. No messages from Bones, no missed phone calls from the bureau asking him to leave his time off to come and collect a body for the squints. Nothing.

"Cam is the murderer", Hodgins announced, "Or the closest to it".

"Congratulations Cam", Sweets said over enthusiastically.

"Thanks Sweets", she glared at him as she walked over to Hodgins to type in her height and weight.

"So now what?", Booth asked.

"We go back to solving how our caveman died", Angela told him, "And you go and do whatever".

* * *

It is so unfair. That is twice in one day that she has made me feel jealous now. How the hell was I going to top that? It was a good thing then that I took my frustration out on my mash potato instead of something else, as it ended up in a pile of mushiness with carrots and broccoli mixed in. My dad was stroking his beard as he watched some TV programme on knitting. Parents are a strange race.

Fredo was curled up behind the sofa my dad was sitting on, dreaming about something as he snorted every so often, and his feet twitched every now and again. He was so cute when he slept, but he had had a busy day, so it was to be expected that he would sleep just a bit more today. Also there was an even more hectic day to come tomorrow.

The front door creaked open and the doc walked in carrying a face worse than death itself. Her feet scuffed across the floor like I would do when I was in a 'mood' as my father puts it. She slumped down into the chair next to me, and put her head in her hands. The doc's hair fell forward, creating a shield around her face, hiding all emotion. Her clothes were still covered in soot from earlier, and any other day, it would have been quite funny to look at.

My dad made it worse by not recognising her presence. He just remained glued to the television screen, which had now gone on to talk about tax credits. What kind of show was he watching? Then Mandible came in, well crawled actually. Her eyes never left the doc, her tail was lifeless and was dragged on the floor behind her. She knew something was up, like they all did when we were upset, and her only priority was to make Dr. Brennan feel better. But the way the doc was ignoring Mandible had to make me wonder if the dragon had done something.

Mandible's eyes left the doc momentarily as she rose onto her two back feet, and slammed her two front feet onto Fredo's tail. He yelped and shot straight up into the air, making my father jump. "Dear God!", he exclaimed as he shot round to look at the dragons who were now cowering beneath the boss, and finally noticed the doc presence.

"Are you okay Dr. Brennan?", even I know that was possibly the wrong question to ask right now, but what else could he say.

She nodded her head slightly, as my dad got up and headed over to the kitchen. The female social life was one my father and I had yet to conquer, and I tell you, it is more complicated than a Rubik Cube. Only few have ever mastered it, and I and my father may have only solved one side to it. She removed one hand, still not looking up, and ran her fingers along the groves in the wood of the table. What I would give to be a psychologist now.

"Do want some mash and veg?", my father asked, that question not much better than the last.

There had been a lack of female presence in the house for a good seven years now, and we were most definitely out of practise. For once, I wished I was... a girl, so at least I could help her. Those words tasted like sick in my mouth, but I really do feel sorry for this woman. From what she had told me on Saturday, I knew her life was hell, but I most definitely have no idea how bad it was.

She nodded at my father, and soon an appetising looking plate of mash potato with broccoli, carrots and sweet corn was placed in front of her. She lifted her head slightly, on by a fraction of an angle, and took the fork in her right hand. Using it like a spoon, she placed a decent mouthful in her mouth.

Mandible looked up from her grooming fest with Fredo. Night Furies are so proud of their physical image. But she now had big puppy dog eyes, reaching out for anything from the doc, but nothing came her way. All she needed was some reassurance that her partner was okay or not, but the way Brennan was hiding herself, made it all the more difficult for the poor dragon.

My dad motioned at me to speak to her as he turned off the TV. I mouthed at him 'what' and he shrugged. It wasn't like I was much better with girls than he was, and I bet that he thought because we spent so much time together we had some sort of connection. You wish. "Goodnight Dr. Brennan", he said as he headed for the stairs up to his room.

"Goodnight McCullough", she smiled, and lifted up her head, and my dad walked away feeling as if he had accomplished something.

But as soon as he turned away, the smile was gone. She continued on with her veg, but at least this time, her hair was off her face, and she was sitting upright. She looked over at Mandible, who gave a low pathetic grumble and a small smile creeped into the corner of the doc's mouth before she turned back to her food. Now it was Mandible's turn to ask me to communicate with this woman. Her puppy dog eyes were horrible, and sadly, I succumbed to them.

"Is everything okay Dr. Brennan?", I asked.

"Why didn't you tell me?", she muttered quietly as she finished her veg.

"Tell you what?".

"About the weapons".

"Dragons don't like them. So what?".

"Did you never stop to think that maybe me working with the FBI that I would have never come into contact with a gun? I'm American Bart, give me $100 and I could go and buy one from the nearest mall. I have owned a gun, still do, and I am an excellent shot. How can I use a gun whilst riding a creature that is terrified by them?".

"It is only the worst case scenario at the moment. We just have to train them just in case".

"But after what Aidan told me, it looks like inevitable".

"So you didn't know?", God I felt foolish now.

She shook her head. "If I knew about what dragons were like with weapons, I would have never come back", tears were in her eyes, great, "There is blood on my hands Bart. You have no idea what it is like to take another person's life, and I don't want you to become familiar with the sensation either".

I sighed and rubbed her back. "I know that your friend Angela would be the better person to console you, but the only thing that I know that might make you feel, better is a goodnights sleep. Yeah?", I told her as I helped her to stand.

She nodded and knew what I had said was true, so being the gentleman I am, I lead her to her room. One arm wrapped around her back rubbing the opposite arm. Mandible was quick to follow, and I heard Fredo hit the ground as the space he was leaning up against disappeared. As I turned to open the door, I could see him waiting by the stairs for me, the first time in years that he has done that.

I smiled to myself as I saw the state of Brennan's room. Mandible went straight to her nest of accumulated fabric and pulled out my old blanket that I used to use when I felt bad. I thought I had lost it ages ago, but dragons seemed to have a knack at finding items for their nests. She dropped it over the doc's shoulders as she sat down on her bed. "Goodnight Dr. Brennan", I said as I started to close the door.

"Thank you Bart, and call me Temperance", she smiled at me.

"Goodnight Tempe", I said as I shut the door.

* * *

**AN: I would like to thank all the patient readers out there. I can't believe that it has been a month since I updated! Don't worry though; I have the next few chapters planned out, minus a few small details. Also, any ideas on what Booth could be doing in his spare time until Friday evening when Brennan comes home? (Next chapter will be Monday evening for Booth and Tuesday for both him and Brennan). I'm rather stuck on ideas for that part, and some audience participation would be very much appreciated. Any questions? Just ask me, and also I would be grateful if you would let me know if anything doesn't make sense. Thanks a lot guys, and those who haven't reviewed yet, please do!**


	6. Guns and Kilts

"Hey Bud", Booth said to his son as he blocked the doorway to his apartment, "You'll like this".

Parker Booth looked up at his father through his long blonde locks of hair that covered his face. His eyes were full of delight, and a touch of confusion, but Booth could see the excitement building. "Have you got me a new toy?", Parker asked as he jumped up and down.

"You could say that", Booth told him as he pushed the door open.

Parker was speechless to the sight before him. Boxes upon boxes of Lego lined the walls of his dad's apartment. This was better than Christmas in his opinion and he could play with it all week. He was overwhelmed by the sheer quantity and when he tried to go one way, he wanted to go another. Booth just laughed at him as his brain tried to decide on what to do next. And then Parker saw the dragon.

He ran straight for it and examined it thoroughly before even touching it. As soon as he picked it up, he began to run around the room. The dragon's flight was a bumpy one to say the least before it came to a rest in Parker's lap. "This is so cool!", he exclaimed as he discovered the wings and tail could move, "Where did you get all of it?".

"I beat Hodgins and Sweets in a contest for it. I built the dragon", Booth smiled as he sat down, gesturing towards the object in Parker's hands.

"Can you make another?", the boy asked, his eyes full of glee.

"Suppose we could", as Booth said those words, Parker jumped up and opened the box closest to him.

He popped the lid of the plastic box and took out a handful of the multicoloured bricks. Some fell from his hands as he walked over to his dad, leaving a trail behind him. Booth had never seen his son so happy in a long time, maybe not since he gave him the robot Zack made at Christmas. "How about we get the whole box out", Booth said as he stood, "It will minimise the mess".

But it didn't help, as soon the floor of his apartment was covered in a layer of plastic bricks. They ended up instead of making a dragon; the boys started making some sort of car with strange extras built onto it. It had aeroplane propellers on the bonnet, a fire engine ladder on the roof, and a garden of all things being pulled on a trailer behind. Parker called it zero carbon emissions. Booth thought if Bones were only there with them, she would have complained about it being unpractical.

"Are we going to show Dr. Bones?", Parker asked as he found yet another wheel to join the twenty already attached to the underside of the car.

"When she gets back from Scotland", Booth rubbed his son's head, when his pocket started to vibrate, "Speak of the devil".

Parker laughed as his dad pulled out his cell phone and put it to his ear. "Booth", he answered.

"Hey Booth", the female voice said on the other end.

"Hey Bones. Everything good in the land of the kilts?", he asked her.

"What's a kilt?", Parker asked his dad as he looked up from his contraption.

"You've got Parker? I thought you weren't supposed to be seeing him until Thursday", Bones said to him on the other end.

"Yeah well, Rebecca is busy after school all week, so the little guy is with me until about six", he smiled, until he saw the expression on his son's face, "I'll tell you what a kilt is once I finished talking to Bones, okay?".

Parker nodded and went back to adding various pieces to his car. It looked like he had some sort of tree in his hand. "So, what's up Bones?".

She was silent on the other end. Booth knew there and then that something was up. "Bones, what has happened?".

"I'm missing you that's all".

"Really", Booth was surprised by her answer, "How?".

"Well, the past few times I've been away, you have come with me".

"It's okay Bones, you will be back Friday, and then we can go back to solving horrible, gruesome, disgusting murders all over the country".

"Nice use of the rule of three for effect there Booth".

"Thanks Bones. Now you get some sleep and I'll come and pick you up on Friday, yeah?".

"Okay. Night Booth".

"Goodnight Bones".

Booth sighed as he hung up. Parker had added quite a few items to the car during his conversation with Bones. A skeleton was now sitting at the wheel with its arm hanging out of the window like a truck driver. "So what's a kilt", Parker asked not looking up from his masterpiece.

Booth shook his head. How was he going to explain that men wore skirts with no underwear? He had dug himself this hole, and was going to have a serious time digging himself out.

* * *

There were ten large beams of wood holding up the ceiling above, fifteen spindles on the backboard of her bed, and she now had the plot outline for her next book. No matter what Temperance did, she could not get back to sleep. She didn't feel tired, but she knew the reasons behind it. It was the day. Sleep would catch her up eventually, probably when she least expected it.

She rolled over onto her side to see Mandible in a deep sleep. She was dreaming about something as her feet were twitching and she was sniffing the air. Last night they had sat together for an hour. They had just sat nothing else. Mandible enjoyed the attention as she was scratched in all the hard to get places as her friend phoned her partner back in DC.

Brennan enjoyed the time to just think. She thought about everything, and felt more at peace than when she was with Booth. This was the first time she realised since before they had first started to work together that she could actually just think to herself without any interruptions of any kind.

Brennan then directed her gaze towards her rather chewed up alarm clock on the bedside table. It read 5.30. Great. She had been awake for a good hour, and was now bored, which was strange for her. It was light outside, and she listened for any movement in the house. There was nothing bar McCullough's loud snoring, but she couldn't tell whether it was coming from Bart or the chief.

It was too early to be sociable, but too late to fall back asleep. She sat up, and carefully and quietly walked over to her dragon and the nest of her clothing. Brennan reached down and took out a black shirt and a pair of khaki coloured trousers. They were warm from Mandible's body heat, and the dragon groaned as it rolled over.

Brennan went over to her window once she was dressed and opened up the blinds and opened it fully. She had learnt from Aidan that they were designed so dragons could fly in and out through them. Temperance slowly crept back over to Mandible and attached the safety cord to her belt. She gave the dragon a little stroke on the top of her head, and Mandible's eyes slowly fluttered open. "C'mon Mandible, we are going for an early flight", Brennan said as the dragon looked up at her.

Mandible stretched and gave out a quiet yawn, before being led over to the window. She ducked through first and Tempe was soon to follow behind, and they walked through the long grass together to get some height on the hill above the house before they took off. The sky was a wonderful orange colour, and the village was as quiet as both dragon and rider had ever seen.

As they reached a suitable height, Brennan climbed onto the back of Mandible. She gave the dragon a little nudge to signal go and waited for the rush of air past her face. But nothing happened. Mandible just stood there. She didn't move, just gazed out over the village. "Mandible, what's up?", Brennan asked as she rubbed the scales on top of Mandible's head.

But whilst Brennan waited for a reaction, Mandible bucked her off. Temperance landed with a thud beside the dragon, and her rear end hurt after coming into contact with the ground. She stood and scampered around to the front of the dragon. Mandible sat, and looked at Temperance, not blinking. As Brennan stared back, she could feel the invisible metaphoric vibes come of the dragon. She had the same expression Angela did when she knew things were not all good.

The expression made Temperance's stomach feel strange. She knew it must be Booth's gut feeling when the stomach acids become upset. She glared back at her dragon, but had to look away when she knew this expression meant more than she was aware. Mandible knew that there was something wrong with today, and wasn't going anywhere until her friend told her. "You won't like it, I promise you", Temperance told the dragon as she played about with a piece of grass.

Mandible made a little squeak, and bent her head down to try and catch her rider's gaze. With her tail, she forcibly tilted Brennan's head up to face her. Just like Booth did with his finger. "Mandible, I can't explain it to you because you won't understand it until later", Tempe told her, tears in her eyes.

Mandible whined as she moved around and rubbed into Brennan. Tempe laughed as the dragon snuggled around her like she did last night. She instantly felt better, and gave out a small laugh as Mandible looked up at her again with her big blue eyes. "I'm so sorry about what you are going to have to go through, and I hope you forgive me for it", she told her friend, "I'm worrying about it now, so please go easy on me afterwards. You won't be the only one going through it".

Mandible did her best sort of smile before the two watched the sun rise on the horizon. Once it was really blinding them, the dragon jumped up on her hind legs, making Brennan jump. She bent back down and signalled for her rider to get onboard. Temperance smiled and jumped on, and as the magnetism clicked the safety cord into place, Mandible did a vertical takeoff. She flew out over the island, and out to sea. Brennan looked confused as she turned around to watch the village quickly disappear. "No offence Mandible, but the island is back that way. It isn't safe off the island", she told it.

Mandible did a sort of laugh, before increasing her speed by flying downward. They flew feet above the sea, and Brennan watched their reflection below. Mandible's wings were beating in a smooth rhythm, even though they seemed to be moving faster and faster. She looked back up to find they were approaching some sort of island at great speeds.

To Brennan it resembled some sort of extinct volcano with large pieces of rock jutting out from all places with one central spike in the centre of the island. As they approached, Brennan squinted at a large white object that seemed to create some sort of arch onto the island from a small wooden jetty. There were no buildings on this island and a strange mist seemed to loom around it. As they got closer, Temperance could see that the arch was in fact a large skull of some sort of dragon.

Mandible adjusted the angle of her wings and they slowed down for landing. Mandible dug her feet into the gravel of the beach, and Temperance just looked around in amazement. The island was incredibly quiet, and the only sound was the waves crashing on the ocean. Why the hell did Mandible bring her here?

Brennan detached herself and hopped down from her dragon. The gravel moved under her feet as she walked over to the skull. It had a multitude of eye sockets, and its jaw space was massive. She walked under it and ran her fingers over the bone. The texture comforted her and she started instinctually looking for signs of trauma. She found evidence of burning that looked like it had been tried to clean off. Brennan deduced that the bone was incredibly old. She thought this is why Mandible had brought her here, to feel comfort in the one area of expertise she shinned in.

A roar echoed around the island, making Tempe jump. She turned on the spot to see it had come from Mandible who was looking up the main turret of rock. She ran to her dragon who just kept looking upward. Brennan followed her gaze to see what she was looking for or at.

Something large and black shot out from at the top, and swooped downwards at an incredible speed. As it slowed to land, Brennan recognised it as a Night Fury. This one was at least twice the size of Mandible and Fredo with scaly out growths at its elbows and a line of spikes ran along its spine. Its eyes were a deep purple, and to be honest its claws actually made Brennan feel some sort of fear for her life. Brennan then knew that Mandible was far from fully grown.

It gave Mandible a stern look and Brennan started to creep around to the back of her dragon. As she looked around from behind Mandible, the least expected thing happened. The two dragons bounded at each other and started grooming each other. Mandible then started to play with this other dragon and soon they got into a playful fight and she lost her dragon in a mass of black scales rolling around on the gravel. It ended with the larger dragon pinning Mandible down, who then licked the nose of the larger one. Brennan just stared at the goings on, and was absolutely speechless.

Mandible made a small grumble and look towards Temperance. The larger dragon lifted up its head and released Mandible from its grip. Tempe stood absolutely still as it plodded towards her. Mandible bounced alongside it like a spring lamb. It stood a good height above Brennan and leant down to sniff her hair. It snorted as it continued to inspect the rest of her. All Temperance could feel was her heart pounding hard in her chest.

It came back around to her front and looked at Brennan in a strange sort of way. It glanced back over to Mandible who was sitting off to the side. They shared some noises between each other before the large Night Fury came to look back at her. Before she even knew it had happened, it roared in Temperance's face. She felt the entire colour drain from her skin as she looked terrified at this dragon.

Mandible then bounded over as if nothing had happened as the larger dragon sat. She nudged Brennan in the back who stroked her face back. Mandible then began to count with her feet. Tempe in her head counted along until they got to thirteen. Then she started again and they got to fifteen, and then another set of thirteen. Brennan knew she was trying to tell her something and her super fast brain started to analyse the information.

"Mum?", Brennan questioned her dragon who bounced back over to the other.

Mandible shook her head and rubbed into the larger dragon. "That is your mother?", Brennan questioned again as she slowly approached.

The larger dragon bent down, and tilted her head. Brennan had no idea what to do, and looked to Mandible for help. She gestured her head towards her supposed mother, and Brennan could only guess that she wanted her to touch. Nerves shaking all the muscles of her being, Brennan reached out with her hand. Before she knew, she had made contact.

The scales were rougher than Mandibles, yet the texture seemed to have a grace about it. Brennan smiled to herself as she recoiled her hand. Mum looked at her reassuringly and nodded slightly. Brennan then wished that she could understand their language, as she was afraid to disappoint the mother.

Mandible was there to rescue her again, and nudged at her rear pocket; where her phone was located. Brennan took it out and went to the menu. She began to run over all the icons until Mandible stopped her at the Gallery icon. She opened it and scrolled down until Mandible stopped her again; this time on photos. Then Brennan understood. She had met Mandible's mother, now she wanted her to meet hers. Temperance gulped, and decided the best option was to show them the picture of her father.

She turned it around for the two dragons to gaze at. "My mother died fifteen years ago, but this is my father", she told the two as the Mum looked intently at the picture.

Mandible then jerker her head to the right, and Brennan guessed she wanted more. She hit the next button and Russ' photo popped up onto the screen. "That is my brother Russ. He is married with two adopted children", she told them as Mandible gesture yet again.

Brennan sighed and decided it was just best to scroll through all of them. Angela, Cam, Hodgins, Booth, Sweets, for some reason Zack's picture was on there, Caroline (why?), Daisy, Wendell, Vincent, Fisher and Arastoo were all shown to the dragons. Brennan could only guess that Angela had hijacked her phone when she wasn't looking and taken photos of everyone. It was like she had seen that in the future Brennan needed them, which was impossible. Typical Angela, but Temperance forgot all about what was going to happen later that day, so Mandible's plan had worked.

* * *

Angela walked through the doors of the Jeffersonian on the Tuesday morning only to find Booth skulking on the platform, leaning over the railings looking at the floor. He was supposed to be on a week's vacation, yet he decided to spend his time here. Angela knew that would never happen in her case. "Hey Big Man. What are you doing here?", she asked him as she stood below him by Jack's station.

He looked up at her, "To be honest Ange, I haven't got a clue".

"Well, at least I got an answer, huh", she smiled at him as she walked over to her office.

Jack Hodgins was the next one to turn up. Booth had moved now and was now looking at something on one of the workbenches. Hodgins threw his bag onto the desk surface and jogged up the steps after swiping himself in. "Hey Booth, what you got there?", he asked as he approached the FBI agent, who was supposed to be on holidays.

"Something that looks rather threatening", he said as he turned around holding up a pair of what looked like industrial sized scissors.

"Don't worry. We don't use them on live human beings", Hodgins smiled as he turned on the computer nearest to them.

"Hi Jack, any idea what we are doing today?", Angela asked as she joined the men on the platform, doing up the buttons on her lab coat.

"Haven't the foggiest. But I think Cam will want us to give Booth something to do", Hodgins pointed behind him where Booth was standing with a creepy sort of smile on his face.

The three turned to face the automatic doors as they heard them slide open. Cam walked through, her heels clunking on the floor as she went like normal, but this time, she had company. A blonde man, coming close to six foot tall, with dark blue eyes followed behind. From what the three could tell he looked rather muscular under his three piece suit, and Angela felt her heart flutter from the symmetry of his features. Cam turned to stop him, before she continued up onto the platform. "Who's your friend Cam", Angela asked as she watched the guy look around the Jeffersonian like all first time visitors did.

"That is Jason Jenkins, and he is writing a book on the Gormogons", she told them.

The three all became agitated as she spoke the last word, all with their own reasons but one did unite them all. "I know that it is a sensitive topic, but the guy is going to give a very generous donation to the institute", Cam told them in hushed tones.

"So what?", Booth replied back at the same sound level.

"Cam has been ordered by Goodman to take any donations or publicity she can get for the Jeffersonian", Hodgins jumped in, looking very smug.

"That's absurd Jack", Cam whispered back.

"But I am right though", she just gave him a look that could kill.

"But Brennan isn't here", Angela stated.

"I told him and he said he can come back next week", Cam reassured the team.

"Well, can't he interview us next week with Bones?", Booth asked.

"We aren't solving any murders at the moment and we have to focus all, well most of our attentions on them when Booth and Brennan get back to work next week. No doubt that Monday morning there will be one waiting for us, and we will get it solved quicker if we aren't popping in and out of interviews".

"I see your logic", Hodgins told Cam.

"Well, if it makes sense to you, I'm in", Angela added, and they all looked towards Booth.

"I haven't got anything better to do", he sighed looking at the floor.

"Good. He is just going to look around this morning and see how we all work and then this afternoon he is going to start interviewing. Booth", she said making the agent jump, "you are in charge of him".

"What? No... Camille... I don't think... damn", he argued as she walked hastily off the platform.

"Have fun dude", Hodgins said slapping him on the back as he went to get his lab coat.

Booth looked to Angela who was smiling. Her arms tucked around her sketch pad, she started making her way to her room. "Good luck Booth", she told him as she passed him.

"Thanks Angela", he told the artist as she went past.

He then looked to this Jenkins guy. There was a strange vibe coming off him that Booth did not like one bit. He was acting like he was excited by the sheer size of the Jeffersonian, but at the same time, it seemed that he was surveying and planning something. Hands in pockets, Booth made his way down off the platform, and the man stopped as he saw Booth heading his way. He extended his hand, and Booth joined him in the gesture with the shake. "Jason Jenkins, and you are doctor...", he started squinting his eyes as he looked at Booth.

"Special Agent Seeley Booth at your service", he said shaking back, and Booth saw the foolish look on the man's face, "Where would you like to go first?".

* * *

Eight o'clock and the weather did not in any way represent the mood. Aidan was wearing a face worse than death itself, Betha had been here since seven missing breakfast, and Caley had just turned up scuffing his feet. Today was going to be utter crap if you ask me. All the dragons could sense something was up as they kept exchanging confused glances and trying to get any reassurance from us. Oh, and not to mention Dr. Brennan was missing. Her tracker said that she was about a hundred miles north, most likely exploring the dragon colonies.

Then we all heard the whistling. Hands went straight to our ears just in time for the contact with the cliff, and then we watched the predicted area for Mandible's landing. Two seconds later, there she was, with a rather happy looking Temperance on her shoulders. Why the hell was she smiling, this is not a happy day, and she looked like crap last night. What the hell was going through her head?

"B, you are not making it any better for us looking like that", Aidan said to her coldly.

Her smile quickly disappeared as she remembered what today was. "Sorry" she told us before taking Mandible and tying her up with the rest of the dragons in the centre of the ring.

"Where did you go?", Caley asked as she sat down next to us on the rock face of the ring.

"I think I met Mandible and Fredo's mother", she said to us.

"There you have it", Aidan said as she stood.

"There you have what?", she asked as we watched her take the keys from her bag.

Aidan looked at me. I knew that she wasn't really up for conversing any more than she needed to today. "Temps", I caught her attention, "Mandible taking you to meet her mother means that she has formally accepted you as her rider".

"I didn't know there was a formality to it", she looked about us, surprised.

"Night Furies are proud creatures and have a different agenda to the other dragon species", Betha commented.

"They aren't very sociable creatures, but when it comes to family and the deed, they have exceptions", Caley added.

"That's why Fredo and Mandible get on so well. If they were not related, you would never find them together on the island as they are sort of territorial with one territory to a family group with the mum as the alpha", I told her, "If Fredo wasn't my dragon, he would have been eventually kicked out to go and make his own territory".

She nodded. "I see. They sort of resemble feral cats, with all the females in one central colony, and the males in their own territories that surround the females, only entering to mate".

"Suppose that's right", I looked at her, she was enjoying learning about this a little too much.

We all jumped at the sound of Aidan pulling the heavy wooden doors to one of the storage holes. They used to hold the dragons in the dragon war, but now, Aidan kept training aids in there. And this one she just opened was the worst of all. She pulled out a cart, and we all knew what was under the sheets when the dragons started growling and getting as far away from it as possible.

We all stood and made our ways over. Aidan was trying her best to regulate her breathing, and looked about us nervously as she reached to remove the sheet. As she pulled the cloth off the rack, all the dragons started growling and trying to fly away. It was lined by hand guns and packs of ammo, and at the bottom of the small wooden structure were attachments for our saddles and what looked like large rifles. "The gun you choose is yours to keep", Aidan said as she reached into the basket that hung off the cart, "The first part of today's lesson will be getting used to holding it. Then we will move onto mounted shooting depending on how quickly the dragons get used to the guns, and then, if we can, we will do some flying shots".

We all reached for a gun. Betha was shaking as she picked up hers, Caley was quick for his and just held it at his side, and I was slow and held it around my front. Brennan was last, expecting all the ones left before picking the one furthest back. She immediately cocked it ready to shoot, and made sure it was safe before putting it in her pocket. "Hey B", Aidan said, "Could you help me with this".

The two women went back into the cupboard and came out with a load of targets on some sort of trolley. There were various holes from obviously last year's class in a few, and new ones that resembled men. "Okay, go and stand by your dragons in a line, and when I tell you, shoot at the corresponding target", Aidan almost yelled at us as we moved towards the said area.

Brennan took out her gun, and the rest of us copied her as she readied to shoot. Aidan raised her arm, and dropped it down. Gun fire ringed around the island, and soon I was out of ammo, and then followed shortly by Caley and Betha. We all had made the target at least once, but when we looked towards the docs, there wasn't even a scratch. "Temp, can't you shoot straight", I asked the doc next to me.

She smiled at me, and looked behind at the dragons. They all looked terrified, but Mandible seemed curious more than anything. Her ears were pricked forward and her eyes were watching the doc like she was waiting to be shown. Aidan started to march over, curious to what the hell was going on. "I have never seen a dragon look like that", she told us all as we stared at Mandible, "Are you going to shoot?".

Brennan opened her mouth to speak, but noting came out. She looked at Mandible who nodded; she wanted this to happen which was beyond strange. Why the hell did Temp have to have the strange dragon? The doc readied her gun, adjusted her legs and readied herself to shoot. She shot three rounds, and I jumped on everyone. Mandible however lay down as if nothing had happened. "B, what have you done to your dragon?", Aidan asked as she pointed towards the completely chilled out Mandible.

"I haven't done anything", she said raising her arms in protest, and looking towards her target, "Except get bull's-eye every time".

Aidan looked down to the targets. Sure enough, she had got all three bullets within the centre ring. She wasn't joking last night. She was damn good with a gun.

**AN: Look at that, I updated, finally. The info about the cats I got from reading a book. I would like to thank Soului for her awsome idea as now the story will flow even better! Any questions, just ask. Audience participation is still welcome, and please review if you have or haven't done so already. Thanks**


	7. Attack of the Pillows

"What is your role in the Jeffersonian Agent Booth?", Jason Jenkins asked as the two men made their ways down the steps into the Gormogon vault.

"I am the FBI liaison. I bring in the dead bodies and the squints find the stuff I need to convict the bastards who commit such crimes", Booth told the man quite proudly as they rounded the corner in the steps.

"Squints?", Jason said in a high pitched tone that resembled a cat more than anything.

"Yeah the scientists upstairs, they squint at things through microscopes. Sounds odd to be calling them scientists", Booth laughed as he focused on the ever closing in ground.

"And you are partnered with one of these 'Squints'? Dr. Brennan?", Jason questioned as he made notes on a small piece of paper.

"Yeah, me and the doc started working together six years ago, even if the first leg was bumpy. In here Mr. Jenkins", Booth told the man as he gestured to the open vault door.

"This is amazing", Jason stated, as he pulled out a pair of glasses and started examining the door.

"Eh hem", Booth coughed as he help up a pair of latex gloves behind the author's back, "The squints would kill me if they saw you walking around here 'contaminating evidence'".

"Oh no, it's fine", Jason said waving off Booth, before reaching into his bag, "I have some of my own. The latex gives me a horrible rash so I have sterilized cotton gloves instead".

"Wish Bones would let me have them, the latex stinks up your hands after a while", Booth commented as the two men entered.

"Bones?", asked Jason as he held up what Booth thought to be a paper weight.

"I mean Dr. Brennan", Booth smiled as he leant up against a clear piece of wall.

"Oh", Jason noted before looking more intently at the object in his hands, "This is quite a collection".

"I know, for a crazy secret society, they seemed to like to collect their junk. Last I heard, the authentications department were still looking through everything", Booth commented.

"Well, I can help them identify this piece of history".

"Really?", Booth asked quite shocked, "You're a squint too?".

"You could call me that, but I think I'm a bit more socially aware than your scientists upstairs", Jason smiled at Booth, "This stone is engraved with Nordic writing. I believe it to be an offering to the god... uh... Loki I think".

"How do you know that?", Booth asked as he came in for a closer look.

"My last book was on Viking cultures and how their traditions have implanted themselves into our modern culture. Legends of; dragons, sea creatures, and other mythical beasts, most of our modern myths deprive from the original Norse and Celtic legends".

"Now dragons would be cool".

"Very", Jason added as he placed the object back down onto the table, "Could you possibly show me the Widow's Son sculpture? That is one very big part in the book".

"Dr. Hodgins would be the best person to explain it all to you, but I think I could give a good introduction", Booth laughed as he led Jason through the maze of Gormogon junk.

* * *

Aidan stared hard at Brennan. She had never seen a dragon behave this way. Two minutes ago, Mandible was just as scared as the others as she watched them pull out the guns, and now, it was like nothing had ever happened. In all her years, Aidan now fully understood that they were still learning about the behaviours of their dragons, even if it seemed that they knew everything.

The other dragons around her seemed confused by Mandible's behaviour. Their eyes wide open, staring back and forth between Mandible and the guns. Some of them were whining pathetically, but as the humans figured out what to do next, they all seemed to calm down like Mandible, laying down with her, even if they were still on edge.

"What the hell?", Betha asked nobody in particular.

"In all my years", Aidan started.

"Which is quite a lot", Caley muttered under his breath, loud enough for Bart to hear and snigger at.

"I'm guessing that this behaviour is far from normal", Brennan conveyed as they all watched the dragons lie down together.

"Light-years from normal", Bart corrected.

"So what do we do now?", Betha asked, turning to face the line that the five of them had formed.

"We continue", Aidan stated before making her way back to the dragons, "Another round of fire, that means everyone B, and we will see what happens".

They all readied to shoot again; Caley, Betha and Bart having to reload their guns after firing randomly last time, whilst Brennan got ready and aimed. Aidan dropped her hand, and another round of gunfire ringed around the island. This time, they all hit their targets, and the teens didn't empty out all their ammo. As quickly as the bullets exited the guns, the four students turned to face Aidan and their dragons. Brazil was fast asleep, which in normal circumstances would not be a surprise to Caley. Blue, seemed as though she was going to burst from adrenaline, but after a few calm breaths, she snuggled into Fredo who had his head down and his eyes locked on Bart, waiting for his next move. And then there was Mandible. She had rolled over onto her back, looking at Brennan as if to say, 'I'm bored, can we do something else now'.

"Dear God, combat lessons might be over in one day at this rate", Aidan said loudly as she unhooked the dragons.

They all sprung up into the air, stretching their wings before landing back down next to their appropriate riders. Brazil landed with a bump and farted as he went, Blue landed gracefully as ever and started to inspect Betha, Fredo jumped enthusiastically around Bart, and Mandible began sniffing the dangerous end of the gun. "You seem to like the smell of gunpowder", Brennan stated to her dragon.

Mandible let a small rumble of agreement before nudging Brennan in the back. She was ready for the next step. "Aidan, seems as if the Bone Team want to take this up a notch", Caley laughed as he watched the two start to annoy each other.

Aidan smiled as she finished checking over her trainees, and put her hands on her hips. "B", she shouted to stop her friend and dragon, "If you would be so kind as to lead the class at your pace and give me a break".

"Uh sure. What do you tend to do after the completion of this exercise?", she asked as Mandible was pounced upon by Fredo.

"Go home and have a stiff drink cos this takes most of the day normally and we haven't even reached ten o'clock yet. But the next exercise is to sit on your dragon, and shoot from a standstill", she said as she sat back onto the stone wall of the arena, "To be honest though, you might have to move straight onto the third step seeing how excited they all are".

"Which would be what?", Brennan asked as she tugged on Mandible's safety rope.

"Shooting in motion", Bart yelled, as he and the other teens jumped onto their dragons.

"Great", were Brennan's thoughts on the matter.

She jumped onto Mandible's shoulders, and instinctually, Mandible took off vertically. The four riders took one lap around the island, getting the excess adrenaline out of their dragon's systems. Brazil flew the fastest any of the kids had ever seen, and Fredo seemed threatened by this new speed. "Hey Caley. Fancy a race?", Bart shouted across, sensing his Fredo's urge to go fast.

"You wish. You always win", Caley shouted back laughing, "Oh, who am I kidding, you're on!".

With that, Brazil shot forward at a downwards angle, and Fredo flew upwards for height. Betha just shook her head at the boys, increasing her maturity by about twenty years. Brennan noticed this and closed Mandible in on her. "Trust me, males never grow out of immaturity like this, I have a lot of experience", she said thinking back to Booth, Hodgins, Zack, and most of her interns for that matter of fact.

"Well, it is a good thing then that we put them back in their places", Betha told Brennan back, "Will you accompany me in beating them back to the arena".

"I shall", Brennan smiled before Mandible flew upwards, and Blue flattened out into a streamlined dive.

* * *

The air rushing past my ears was a nice feeling compared to the sound of gunshots. Just Fredo and I, perfect, and we are so going to whoop Caley and Brazil's asses. Oh victory, how I miss thee. I don't think I have won anything since the good doctor arrived. It will be a nice thing to win, but I think I will have to hand my twenty over to Caley prematurely cos, I really don't think I can pull off a stunt to beat the docs without seriously injuring myself. No way am I shortening the length of time flying.

As we reach the peak of our accent, I hear the usual sound of the air rushing past my ears slow down. But this time, there seems to be an added intensity to sound of the air. I look around, and sure enough, there is Temp flying next to us. She shoots me a smile, before Mandible closes in her wings and they start to descend. Why the hell are they up here? Oh crap. They are in on the race too. "Fredo, quick follow them! Toot sweet! Go, go, go!", I shout at Fredo, and thankfully he feels my eagerness to follow.

He closes in his wings, and I bend in to increase the streamline speed. I get the feeling that most people get on rollercoaster when they go down, which is not normal for me. So the only thing I can guess at is that we have passed our personal best speed. But I think no matter how fast we go we will never catch up with Temp and Mandible, they have had too much practise already at high speeds.

Then, there they were, and Fredo was increasing on them. Oh this was good, but there is one great big problem. The ground is fast approaching and Fredo and I have never landed at these speeds, and then I understood that Mandible was slowing for the landing. This was going to hurt. "Fredo, slow down you fool", I try to shout, but he can't hear me over the sound of the air rushing past.

I kick him in the ribs, and he opens out his wings, jerking me upwards. Ouch, and it is not just my head that hurts. Even at slowing speeds we pass Temp and Mandible. Ha, we might win, but we still have the ground to contend with. "Okay boy, this might hurt", I tell Fredo as he heads for the cliff.

I feel him gulp in his throat; he knew the pain was coming too. Looking around, I see Brazil approaching the arena at some great speeds for a Gronckle, and Blue just coming around the base of the Berk Mountain. Temp is somewhere above us, and it will be a close call when we both head for the same cliff.

I can see the cliff face now, and the nesting gulls on the surrounding rock have evacuated for their own safety. With all their experience with dragons crashing into the cliff, you would have guessed they would have moved. But no, the birds here are just as stubborn as the villagers. Viking traits, they never leave your genetics. Wonder if Temp has any, most likely.

One, two, three, and... BANG. My head jerks backwards, and if it weren't for all the safety features on the harness, I would be in the sea below right now. Micro seconds after our contact, I hear Mandible hit the cliff face. This is going to be close.

I see Aidan scurrying to get as pressed up against the wall as she can. It would be the end of her if she got hit by one of us, and then we wouldn't have a teacher. BANG, we hit the floor, and then I feel the vibrations of three others. Yes! I won! Ha! Ha! In your face Caley! "Can you guys stop doing that? Please!", Aidan shouted as she peeled herself from the rock.

"Dude, you won!", Caley yelled as Brazil bounced over to us, "Told you would win!".

"Didn't look as though I would at one point", I told him, gesturing towards the girls who were now probably discussing how their plan failed.

"Well, let's just say, I never doubted you for just one moment", Caley said as he slapped his hand down onto my back.

"Shall we continue with the lesson?", Temp asked as she and Betha walked their dragons over to us.

"Please", Aidan yelled up to us from in the middle of our circle of dragons, "And no more speed diving in groups. One at a time from now on".

"So, who shall go first?", Betha asked.

"Not us", I moaned with my head in my hands, now came the after pain.

"Don't think Braz is up for it after all that flying", Caley said as he patted his Gronckle as it collapsed before all of us.

The two girls were left to decide amongst themselves. They stared at each other for a moment; non verbal female communication is the worst thing to understand if you are a guy. There are so many looks that you can take in the wrong way, and then you are getting hit over the head if you do get it wrong. "I'll go, seeing as I'm the better shot", Temp finally said.

"I have no problem with that", Betha replied, and I knew that look on her face, she really wasn't that bothered cos she hates going first in anything. Oh and she also knows what is coming.

"Okay", Aidan said, clapping her hands together, "B, can you fly up to the peak of Mt. Berk, wait a few seconds, fly at whatever speed you feel comfortable for your first go back down here, and then shoot at the objects".

"What objects?", she asked as Mandible manoeuvred to face the correct direction.

"You'll see Temp", I smiled at her.

She gave us an odd glance before Mandible shot up into the air. We all quickly jumped down and followed Aidan as we ran to one of the storage holes as the dragons headed for the perch above the arena. The doors on these hinges were the lightest and the most oiled as this is the best cupboard ever. Inside, are thousands upon thousands of stuffed toys that are too disgusting after the dragons have gotten a hold of them, and machines that launch pillows into the air. We use these in practise, even though this is the lesson that we have them for. It is just so damn fun to have things thrown at you in mid flight. And the best part is Temp doesn't know what is going to hit her.

Caley and I take a pillow launcher each and both head for opposite sides of the arena, whilst Aidan and Betha take a hoard of stuffed toys into the centre of the arena, before us boys head back to help them drag out the safety boxes. The girls hide under the plywood boards, whilst Caley and I get ready and take aim. We hear Mandible heading towards us, they must like it fast.

And then we hear the command from Aidan. "Fire!", there has to be an almighty grin upon her face.

As we release pillows and the girls throw up a load of toys, Temp and Mandible fly into the arena. Thank god Temp grasped the concept quickly as she started firing at the toys and pillows. The floor of the arena was soon covered in a layer of feathers and teddy bear fluff. Caley and I whoop as we exit from behind our launchers and our dragons roar from the perch. Mandible lands as gracefully as ever, and as Brennan jumps down she picks up the remains of a pillow. She laughs to herself as we all come over, and Mandible starts to roll about in the feathers. "I suppose a quick succession of small objects is better than one large target", she tells us.

"And it is much cheaper too", I laughed as Fredo swept me up for my turn.

* * *

"So, Agent Booth, you were the one to end the Gormogon society?", Jason asked from the chair opposite Brennan's sofa.

Jason had now come to the more sensitive part of the interview. For the past half an hour, Booth had answered all the questions this man had put forth to him; his role in the Jeffersonian, his partnership with Bones, his thoughts on the Jeffersonian, how they had come to discover about the Gormogons. He knew where the next question after this would lead; Zack. God, Booth hated him for being so stupid and getting into all of this, but at the end of the day, he was still one of his people. Hopefully one day he would return, and then all of the squints would be happy again. Even though all the interns were great, Booth knew that the best option at the end of the day, and if it aroused, Zack would be welcomed back without hesitation.

"Yes, I shot Gormogon. I ended it", that must have been the shortest answer he had given all day.

"What about his apprentice, is there any chance that he might revive the culture?", Booth could have shot him there and then.

"No, he would never do that to us. He has learnt his lesson, and he will be behind bars for the rest of his life possibly", he said quickly, even for Booth, Zack was a sensitive topic.

Jason looked at Booth. He had the look that Booth had seen too much on television. He had caught a scent. "So you knew this apprentice?", he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Did I know him? We all know him, and you are not getting any more out of me on that part of the interview", Booth almost shouted at the gentleman.

"Okay", Jason noted before he flipped over onto another piece of paper, "When would you say is the most peaceful time in this lab?".

That was a strange question. For many reasons. One, it was strange on its own, two, it was a weird question to come after such a sensitive topic, and three, why would someone like to know that unless they were willing to take on one of the best guarded locations in the world and rob the place. Booth raised one eyebrow at Jason Jenkins as any evidence of tears escaped from his eyes. "Why do you want to know that?", Booth asked, now very suspicious.

"Oh, um, for the cover photo shoot for my book", Jason stuttered, but Booth still believed him, his eyes convinced him.

"Just let Dr. Saroyan know that you want to use the lab, and you will have trouble finding a day when this place is quiet enough", Booth told him.

"Why?".

"Cos, when Bones gets back, bodies will be flowing in here daily. Your best chance would be this Friday evening, where there are no bodies, and this place will be as empty as it will ever get".

"Thank you Agent Booth, can you please tell your colleagues that I will interview them tomorrow", Jason said as he stood to shake Booth's hand.

"It was my pleasure Mr. Jenkins", Booth smiled at him as he followed the man out of his partner's office.

Booth sighed as he leant against the doorframe and watched the gentleman leave. All he could think about was that Angela was going to have fun tomorrow. Maybe she should go last, so as not to scare the man out of his wits. Or maybe she should go first and scare him away so the others don't have to suffer the emotional pain that the topic of Zack brings with it.

* * *

"Four o'clock, and we have finished combat training in one day", Aidan told the group as she examined her watch.

"All of it?", Bart asked.

"Yes, but there will be a review every year and you all have to practise", Aidan said as she started to lead the group out of the arena.

"But I leave in three days", Brennan pointed out, "I will, and have had limited practise".

"Yeah, but you seemed to have beaten us in every aspect", Caley commented.

"I suppose that is true", she smiled as we continued through the old metal gates, "What are we going to do tomorrow?".

"That does all depend on the weather. It is supposed to be rubbish tomorrow, so we may have to cancel lessons", Aidan replied, "But for now, we are going to the grand hall for food".

"I can cope with that", Brennan replied.

The walk up to the grand hall, where only Saturday evening they had eaten a grand meal, was pleasantly quiet. There was no demand to start a conversation as there was no need, and everyone was just enjoying the peace after an event filled day. For Aidan, the day had gone more swiftly than she was used to. She was having trouble thinking what she could teach them next as one, she had basically finished the course with the teens, and two Brennan was one fast learner. Maybe she could give them a break, until she found some new inspiration.

The dragons plodded behind the group of five. Fredo was walking very carefully as he was doing his best to hide the pain he had caused himself from earlier. But one glance from any of the riders, they knew that he was doing his best to cover it up. And Mandible could see through her brother's charade quite easily as she kept knocking into him and throwing him off course.

Wafts of various meals hit them as they walked up the stone path up to the hall. Caley's stomach growled as they approached, but it wouldn't be long until his hunger could be cured. Aidan glanced behind them to see that every dragon was sniffing the air; they deserved a good meal after today.

The two boys marched forward past the girls, with Brazil and the trainee Monstrous Nightmare quickly behind them. The four pushed the heavy doors open together for the girls and the others to go through for food. Bart being the gentleman he had always been and Caley picking up on his getting girls tips.

Inside it was different from Saturday night. The round tables covered in cloth had now been removed and long wooden tables replaced them. There was no places set up, and families sat wherever they wanted around a collection of food in the middle of the table. Dragons sat in small places behind the families, eating fish slowly from a basket in the centre of their small circles. Caley was called over by his family, and Betha had disappeared as soon as they entered. Bart looked around for his father, whilst Aidan headed for a group of adults at the back near the kitchens. Brennan however, had no clue as where to go. Mandible came next to her as she too had been left by the other dragons, all following their riders. "Where do we go?", Brennan asked Mandible, who just looked back at her confused.

She looked around for a place. Maybe she could take this opportunity to have some time to herself to write down ideas for her next plotline. Well, that wasn't going to happen after Aidan called her over to her group. Brennan smiled and walked over, not wanting to be rude. "Hey B, do you want to eat with us?", the dragon trainers asked.

She was sat at a table with four men and woman about the same age as her, the youngest probably a little older than Temperance. A motley crew of dragons sat in the small space behind them, and two Terrible Terrors sat upon their 'riders' laps, sleeping with one eye open, gazed at Brennan. "I wouldn't mind as long as it is okay with you", she smiled, taking her bag off from Mandible's saddle.

"Yeah, sit down", a big man with a black beard to match his hair said in a deep voice, "We need a new topic to discuss anyway".

"Thank you", she replied as she sat down next to Aidan at the end of the row.

Mandible strode over to the dragons and sat down in the space in the middle and swallowed a fish whole from the basket. The dragons around her watched her intently as she made herself comfortable. Once she was done, she rest her head on her feet, and her deep blue eyes became soft and her eyelids started to flutter close. "Guys, this is Dr. Brennan", Aidan introduced.

"O'Malley the blacksmith", the dyed green haired gentleman sat across from her that Brennan met on Sunday, said as she shook his hand for a formal introduction.

"Lola Smith", an 'older than she looks' blonde lady at the other side of Aidan smiled.

"Gordon Kinsley. It is nice to meet you", the gentleman next to O'Malley introduced himself.

"Megan Kinsley, it is nice to have someone new here on the island", a dark brown haired lady sat next to Gordon smiled.

"Here you go B", Aidan said as she passed Brennan a plate, "Dig into whatever".

There was an assortment of meat and vegetables on the table. As Brennan looked over the various foods, she noticed something that reminded her slightly of home. Furthest away from her way a Thai dish, vegetarian too by the looks of it. "Lola, could you perhaps put a few spoonfuls of the Thai dish on my plate for me?", Brennan asked her new acquaintance.

"Yeah sure", Lola said putting down her knife and fork, "It's vegetarian just so you know".

"That's okay, I am one", she told the group as Lola passed back her plate.

"You are?", Aidan said shocked by the statement, "You seemed to be a meat eating person to me".

"I was, but after seeing how you kill a pig, I was seriously put of eating meat", she told them as she put the first spoonful of Thai into her mouth.

"You can stare at a dead body all day and not get grossed out, but the thought of killing a pig makes you sick", Aidan re-alliterated, and Brennan nodded.

"So what do you do for a living?", Megan asked as she went for a forkful of sausage.

"I'm a Forensic Anthropologist. I'm called in when a body is too decomposed to be identified. In these modern times though, the bodies tend to be murder victims", she said as she reached down for her bag, not noticing the group had stopped eating, "Do you mind if I check my emails?".

"Go ahead, think we might be finished with our food anyway", O'Malley told her as he gulped down his last mouthful.

She turned her laptop on, and as she flicked through she didn't notice her acquaintances exchange glances with Aidan. They were trying to urge her to perhaps start a new topic, seeing as she knew Brennan better than anyone sat at the table. "Hey B, do you think you will participate in our competition on Thursday?", Aidan asked when she saw that the doc had finished with her emails.

"What competition?", she asked looking at them confused.

"You know, if that boy didn't have to remind him, he would leave the house without his head", Aidan laughed as she looked over to Bart and his father.

"I don't understand", Brennan stated as she packed away her laptop.

"There is annual competition on Thursday that involves the dragons with and without riders competing", Lola went on to explain ignoring Brennan's comment.

"There is a category between each dragon species, otherwise the Night Furies would just dominate the whole day", Gordon added.

"And all the dragons and riders come from the other continents, even if they don't participate", Megan said excitedly.

"No offense doc, but you Americans don't seem to bother to come. Too much going on over there for them", Lola finished, "Maybe you can convince them next year to come".

"Plus, it gives me another day to think about what I can teach those kids after we completed about six lessons in one day", Aidan added.

"You what?", O'Malley asked loudly, as he had every reason to be shocked.

"How the hell did that happen Aid?", Lola screeched.

"Look to my left", Aidan smiled, and the four looked to Brennan who had gone back to her food for a moment.

Brennan looked up from her food to find four sets of incredibly shocked eyes staring straight at her. "What have I done now?", she asked as she threw down her fork, "It seems that everything I do here is beyond the normal".

* * *

**AN: Dear God I'm exhausted. Sorry that it has been nearly a month since I updated last. My exams have finished, and it has taken me since the end of June until this weekend to recover. I really enjoyed writing this chapter and I have some ideas for the next one. I have to update my other fanfic 'The Fugitive' this week as I haven't updated that one longer than this one. I'm predicting that this is going to be one hell of a story as I have planned this one out, unlike the others that seem to be going on forever and ever, and to be honest with you, I'm getting rather bored with them, so I need to finish them up quickly too. Until next time, and please review, Stitch.**


	8. Dai, Suncream and Lizards

Porridge, golden syrup, and milk are the best breakfast to have on mornings like these. Rain, gloom, mist, and cold, typical summer weather here in Berk. But Temp seems to have missed all of that and has experienced the wonderful sun that we get not too all often. It is a good thing then that we took advantage of it when we had it. To be honest with you all, I'm sort of in a state of shock now. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that we would have finished dragon training by now.

I look over to Fredo. He enjoyed the lie in this morning, as did I. My father was up and gone by nine, like usual; he is a busy man after all. Fredo was laying the most unimaginable position ever as he watched television, that's right people; dragons watch television, maybe a bit more than we do. He was watching a show even more peculiar than my dad was two nights ago; it looks as though it may be a children's morning show as there are two guys throwing buckets of water over each other, and there is this poor young girl of about twenty standing in the middle of it all trying to introduce some cartoon.

I look back over to the clock. Ten, maybe I should wake Temp up soon. At this rate, she will miss most of the day. Also, I'm getting lonely with only an antisocial dragon as company. I go back to my porridge. Steam is being produced now as the water in the porridge evaporates from the heat into the cool air.

There is a bang from somewhere down Temps corridor which makes Fredo jump. He flips over and adjusts his gaze to look at the small space where the doc and Mandible should exit from. If I know him, he will be getting ready to attack his sister, or Temp. Whoever exits first, cos he doesn't particularly care.

I sigh and get up. Temp is going to want to have breakfast whatever the case, and I bet Mandible will want some fish, seeing as dragons are hungry twenty four seven. One bowl of porridge, honey, ginger, and brown sugar have been added onto the table with my steaming bowl of sugary goodness, and as I sit to continue, more bangs and crashes escape from temps room, and it is only a matter of time until...

Ah, even before I could tell you, Mandible flies down the hallway, is attacked by a well rested Fredo, and is shortly followed by a stressed out looking Temp. Her hair is a mess, and she is still dressing herself, well, finishing as she comes round the corner with only the top of her head poking out from a very woolly jumper, and one shoe on her foot (the other in Mandible's mouth). "Mandible, stop messing about, we are late", she shouts through her jumper, but as her heads pops out, there is a look of surprise on her face, "Ah".

"Morning Temp", I smile, as I throw her hairbrush over that she had left on our sofa last night, "Nice sleep".

"Surprisingly", one word said it all as she brushed her mangled hair, "I bet I look really stupid right now".

"No, no... Yes", I tell her, and she sighs with a smile on her face, "But it's okay, when I woke up, panic over took me too".

"What are we doing today then?", she asks as she slumps down in the chair next to me and digs into her porridge.

"Uh, I was hoping you had some sort of idea. You are the guest, maybe you had some touristy ideas in mind", when you have lived on an island your whole life, things do seem to get boring after a while.

She said nothing for a while. Neither did she do anything else. Her mouth was left open, the spoon full of porridge halfway up to her mouth, and her eyes didn't even blink. "Um, Bart, do you by any chance have a library here on the island?", she asked, turning to look at me.

"Uh, yeah", I said before a mouthful of porridge, "Why?".

"Maybe we could start on your dragon anatomy lesson", she said, looking at her porridge as if it was really fascinating.

"Suppose, but...".

"I need to phone my team first, or at least let them know I'm okay", she interrupted before I even had a chance to finish.

"Sure, but you need to know...", but this time, without a word, she just stood, picked up her bowl and headed to her room.

I sighed and glanced over to the television. As the door banged shut, Mandible's head popped up over the top of the sofa, and her blue eyes looked to me with confusion deeply set in them. You can only imagine what position she was lying in after seeing what Fredo managed to pull off earlier. I shook my head and smiled. "You have a strange one there Mandible", I told her, which she replied to with a smile.

* * *

Angela skipped into the Jeffersonian on the Wednesday morning. For some reason, she felt incredibly happy. Maybe it was to do with the fact that the weather was looking to be hot for the next few days, or that as she walked through the museum gardens, everything seemed perfect. The gardeners really outdid themselves sometimes, and sometimes, Ange felt as though she was one of the only members of the 'squint squad' who appreciated it.

The lights flashed automatically on as she danced through the doors of her room, and she threw herself into her spinning chair sending her across the room to her computer. One thing about having your own room, you can set it up in any way that you want, and Angela set hers up so she could have the maximum amount of fun in the morning to keep her cheer levels up all day.

Her computer beeped, and Angela hummed with it as it greeted her. Nothing could spoil her day in her opinion. As she started her morning routine of checking her emails, Angela decided to listen to some radio. She hadn't done this in a long while, maybe a week, and she was beginning to miss the radio DJ's voice.

One by one, Angela went through all the administration junk. The authentications department wanted her to scan some artefact in onto the Angelator for documentation; Egyptology needed her to help restore some hieroglyphs; and Cam had ordered a meeting for sometime next week about an upcoming court case. After all of this, she came to the most recent email. It was from Brennan. Angela was really beginning to miss her. They hadn't spoken in over a day, and Booth was probably the last to hear from her on Monday evening.

It read;

_Hey Ange,_

_I'm having a wonderful time here in Glasgow. The weather has been excellent up until today and the team here tell me that tomorrow will be a bit better. My computer tells me that it is getting very warm at home. Please remind Booth to wear sun cream as last time we had weather like this, he burnt his nose and wouldn't stop complaining about it. I'm really missing you guys now, and I am looking forward to seeing you again. I'm sorry I didn't contact any of you yesterday; there was a breakthrough in the remains. Hope to see you soon,_

_Brennan_

_P.S Bart (the Scottish boy you took a fancy to) is going to be introducing me to a local culture that involves racing lizards tomorrow. I'll let you know how that goes._

Angela laughed. Typical Brennan to get caught up in human remains; she began to recall one time, Brennan spent a whole day down in limbo because she was flying through the remains quicker than you can say 'Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Medico Legal Lab in the Jeffersonian Institute, Washington DC'. Angela was soon aware of a presence in her doorway. She turned, to find Dr. Jack Hodgins leaning on the doorframe, holding up a pink rose.

"Don't know about you, but the gardens seem beautiful today", he smiled as he spun the rose around in his fingers.

"They look beautiful everyday", Angela corrected him, "You are just too busy to notice".

"Suppose", he said as he straightened up, "Any warnings before I read my emails?".

"Cam is calling a meeting next week about a court case coming up. Other than that, it is just going to be a normal day", she told him as she picked up some paperwork next to her computer.

"Don't forget we have to be 'interviewed'", he added, "You heard anything from Dr. B".

"Yeah, she said something 'bout sun cream and lizards", Angela smiled as she grabbed her blue coat.

"Like to know how those two are linked".

"They aren't, they were just both in her email", Ange told him as she began to make her way out of her room to begin the days errands.

"Bet I could find a link", he called after her.

"Bet you could find links for anything", she called back with a smile on her face.

Hodgins began striding over to his room. He took a dramatic breath in as he gazed around his space. Just how he left it. Everything had a place, and everything was in its place. He placed his shoulder bag down on the ground as he slumped down into his computer chair. The computer turned on with its very annoying tune. Hodgins began to think that computer manufacturers were competing to see who could invent the most irritating tune to annoy their customers with. So far, he had deduced that Brennan's computer had the most irritating tune. It was made more irritating that you could set your watch by hearing it on a normal day as she always turned it on at nine.

There was a cough, and Hodgins' gaze was directed to the doorway. Booth's presence was unmistakable, and the FBI agent took the entomologist's glance as an invitation into his room. He seemed happier to be following a routine now, rather than waking up when he wanted, not doing anything until 'n' o'clock, and thinking that everyone who phoned the house was Dr. B asking him to come out to Scotland. "So, how can I help you this morning Booth?", Hodgins asked as he read through Cam's email.

"Yeah, do you know if any of you have heard from Bones?", he asked as he sat down next to Hodgins on the examination table.

"Uh, yeah, Angela had an email this morning from her. All I got out of her was lizards and sun cream and now I'm going to work out how those two can be linked".

"Trust you", Booth said as he got back upon to his feet, "I'll just go and find Ange".

"Give it twenty minutes though Booth", he called out after the Agent, "She is picking up paperwork at the moment".

* * *

Brennan walked back into the lounge after emailing Ange, to find Bart placing some sort of contraption on Mandible's head, after already putting one on Fredo. It looked like a coat for dragons, but Brennan couldn't understand why they needed one. She had her coat under her arm and an umbrella in her hand as it didn't have a hood. "Bart, what are they wearing?", she laughed as she walked across to Mandible who wasn't very impressed with the coat.

"Night Furies are proud creatures remember. They get just as fussy as we do when we get our hair wet in the rain with their scales. I think they don't like the feeling of the water dripping on them", he replied as he finished pulling the plastic over the top of mandible's head so only the tip of her nose poked out at the end.

"So, where is this library?", she asked as she started putting her coat on over her woolly jumper.

"Uh, we have to fly to the base of the cliff and through a cave. I have to warn you...", he started to say.

"Well, let's go then", she smiled as she reached for her safety cord.

Bart sighed as he did the same and led Fredo out through the front door. He needed some encouragement with the bribe of a Fredo chocolate at the end of it. It was a really horrible day outside. The lashing rain had turned into the fine misty stuff that wets you all over, and the wind made it even worse. Brennan wouldn't be surprised if it started to thunder and lightning.

The two climbed onto their dragons, and took off into the rain. Nobody liked flying in this weather, but it was the only way to the library. _We need to sort out another way in_, Bart thought to himself as he led Brennan up an over the hill behind his house. When they reached the top, the ground disappeared into a drop, with the sea at the bottom. Fredo turned in the air, and the two dragons glided down the cliff face. A few metres above the choppy sea, the dragons turned into a dark and damp cave.

It was dimly lit by precariously placed lanterns along the naturally carved out chasm. Stalagmites and Stalactites gave Fredo and Mandible a challenge as they swerved to avoid crashing into them. The sound of the waves crashing at the entrance was echoed throughout, and the air was getting colder the further the ventured in.

They turned around a sharp right hand corner, and the brakes went on faster than when flying at the speed of sound. Before them, was a large wooden door. Well, not a door, a wall with a door at the bottom. There were very old engravings on the wood, and green moss emphasized some patterns more than others to make it seem even more impressive.

The dragons landed, and their riders were quick to jump off. Temperance began heading towards the door, but Bart stopped her before she entered. "Now Temp. Listen to me now okay. There is something you have to know before you enter", Bart stared deep into her eyes.

"I'm listening Bart. You have my full attention", she nodded to him.

"The book keeper here is a bit... odd. You are new, he has never seen you before, and as a warning, he will try to predict your future. Now I know that you probably don't believe in that sort of thing, but just let him do it, and then he should leave you alone. Okay?",as Bart told her this, he could that she wanted to protest.

"Fine, but I won't believe a word of it", she sounded almost like a defeated child.

"I wouldn't expect any less", Bart smiled before pushing the door open.

Fredo went first, followed by Mandible then Brennan. Inside, it was like the inside of the Jeffersonian storage. It went on forever, rows and rows of bookshelves, and the silence was rather eerie. The space was lit by large Viking chandeliers like in the grand hall, and Brennan knew that was going to be where Mandible and Fredo spent their day.

Mandible, never being in somewhere so big, stepped forward, with her eyes examining the space above her. Oblivious to what was in front of her she continued forward until she tripped over a wire. She fell flat onto her front, and as she looked up, she found that she was in the company of another human besides Brennan and Fredo.

He was an aged man. A white beard grew all the way down to the floor, and penny sized lenses sat in the frame of the glassed on the end of his nose. He was most definitely blind as his eyes were completely white. A grin grew on his face to reveal few teeth remained in his mouth, and for some reason, Mandible felt submissive to this man. "Aye Bart", the man began, with an accent different to the Scottish Brennan had grown used to over the past few days, "You have brought friends".

"Dai Jones, meet Dr. Temperance Brennan, and her dragon Mandible", Bart sighed, this man was technically his great grandfather, but he didn't like people knowing that.

"Ah, another Night Fury rider", he grinned, "Where from Bart?".

"Washington DC", Brennan answered for Bart, and Dai seemed to perk up slightly.

"American", he looked straight at Brennan, which made the hairs on the back of her neck stand, "So you are the reason behind the war".

"Oh no no", Bart jumped in, "Mandible is Kaie's daughter, and Temp is on our side. Just look".

Brennan was confused, how could a blind man look? He was blind! She started to think that it could be to do with this supposed power that this Dai had. And his accent, Brennan had settled on Welsh. But it wasn't what she was used to when hearing the Welsh anthropologists spoke to her. "Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute in Washington DC, born Joy Keenan to Max and Ruth Keenan, thirty four years of age", Dai smiled.

"How do you know that?", she squeaked.

"Wait, there's more", Bart sighed.

"Best forensic anthropologist in the world, partnered with Special Agent Seeley Booth of the FBI, author of three books, all successful. Recently called back to our island to help with a lone Night Fury, and there she is before us. Oh and there's more, but my dear, you have one fascinating life", Dai smiled, "But now, what is that I see... I see pain and suffering, not just in your job, in your time here with us too. There is a choice to come soon, to stay, or go and do what you love ...and a birth, a most joyous birth".

"A birth?", Brennan didn't believe him, but a birth was out of the question.

"No more future my dear", Dai bowed, "Don't know what any of it means".

There was an awkward silence, and Mandible scrambled up from her place on the floor and went to hide behind Brennan. Fredo was cowering behind Bart, both of them were sensing the power radiating from Dai, and were both scared by it. "Uh Temp, shall we start our research", Bart said breaking the silence.

"Yes", she said quickly, "Let's start with anatomy of birds and lizards, then we'll see where we can go from there".

As Brennan rushed forward down an isle of book, Dai stared long at her, even though he couldn't see her. Bart watched as the smile on his face quickly disappeared. His back hunched over and he rested on his stick. For one moment, he looked no different from any other old aged pensioner. "Bamps, everything alright?", Bart asked his relative.

"Butt, she has an interesting life, but it is energy draining", he was shaking his head, "God help her".

"With what?".

"A figure in her past and future, she may deny it, but it sends fear through her veins, mine too hearing it's name".

"Which would be what?".

"Gravedigger".

A few hours later, and many anatomy books on all sorts of animals, they had hardly covered the basics. Dragons had wings like birds, and represented lizards, but produced heat like mammals, and the fire breathing was just plain old confusing. All muscle calculations came up either too much, or too little, and the bone density was incalculable. "I never thought it was going to be this intense", Bart stated as he rubbed his head for the umpteenth time in the past hour.

"We are writing the rules from scratch Bart; it is going to take a long time. This will probably take up most of your life", that really did not make Bart feel better, "Has anyone autopsied a dragon?".

"No", he was disgusted by the thought, "It would just be wrong".

"Anatomy of animals or humans was only accomplished through dissection Bart. If you want to reach your goal, it will have to be done. You will have to take samples, record extensive data, and spend hours studying various pieces of data".

"I should get a team together".

"Betha and Caley seem quite capable", Brennan suggested as she started to flick through another book.

"Suppose. But could I possibly recruit you", he smiled.

"You send me bones, and I'll do the best I can", she smiled back, before looking back to the book.

Bart sighed and looked upwards to the chandelier above him. Mandible and Fredo had fallen asleep hours ago, and were both now snoring quite loudly. They were warm up there, whilst down below, the two humans were wearing gloves and scarves to keep warm. Bart rubbed his hands together and jigged his legs about. Both of them had to move every five minutes otherwise they would freeze.

"Aye butt, what ya doing?", Dai said from nowhere.

Bart jumped whilst Brenna continued to read. Dai appeared from their left, walking a fast pace for a man reliant on a stick to keep him upright. "Temp is helping me with dragon anatomy", Bart replied.

"That is one hellova feat", he smiled as he sat down next to Brennan.

"Yes, but I'm the best in my field remember", Brennan said crudely from her book.

"In 'umans, not dragons", Dai laughed, "I thinks you should stop".

"Yeah Temp, we've been going for hours", Bart winged.

"Fine", she grumbled, she was enjoying this research, "We have plenty notes to give you a start Bart".

"Thanks Temp", Bart smiled.

The cave suddenly shook, and the vibrations went through all of them. "Aye, a good storm is what we need", Dai said as he sat back in his chair, "Will bring good weather for tomorrow".

"Will you be coming?", Brennan asked the old man.

"Nah, I'm better off down 'ere. I'd get lost up there, but thanks for asking", he smiled at her.

"She is going to be the first American in a long time", Bart stated, "Wonder what the others will make of ya".

"From what I saw, she will give your old man Bart a good fight", Dai told the boy.

"McCullough has a dragon?", Brennan was surprised, she hadn't seen him riding any dragon.

"Yeah, dad rides Mandi and Fredo's mum, Kaie", Bart answered.

"Why hasn't he been riding her then?".

"To give Bart here a go at the chief powers", Dai told her, "On every continent, you have the chief and his Night Fury, and his apprentice and his Night Fury. Bart is McCullough's apprentice, and he is having a work experience period type thing. All the other chiefs and apprentices will come tomorrow with the rest of their colony".

"Except for the North Americans", Bart added, "Oh, Temp. You are going to have to represent them".

"What? I'm not a chief or an apprentice. I'm just Dr. Brennan", from what she heard, she didn't want to be part of the North American colony.

"I see Dr. Brennan, that you will bring peace to them. In my eye, you are the chief, not that loony flying around wanting to be Night Fury chief of the world", Dai told them.

"Is that what the war is about?", Bart was shocked by that news.

"Yeah, stupid reason if you ask me. Listen 'ere Dr. Brennan, you tell the chiefs tomorrow, that if they want peace, they should support you in becoming the North American chief. If they agree you are the chief", Dai directed at Brennan.

"What about the loony? Won't he be angry?", she really didn't want to start perhaps another war.

"Yeah, he'll be pissed", Dai laughed, "But we have to wait for the eventual outcome".

* * *

Jason Jenkins walked into the Jeffersonian. He had four people to interview today, and he felt as if it was going to be hard to get answers from Agent Booth's actions yesterday. Scientists or 'squints as Agent Booth had put it were rushing all around him. There was no sign of the four he wanted to interview, but he suddenly caught a glance of Agent Booth. Booth rushed past him, but came back when he realised that it was Jason standing in the doorway. "Mr. Jenkins, the squints are just sorting out between them who is going first", Booth smiled and looked to Cam's room where there was a lot of noise escaping from, "Uh, go wait in the Holographics room and the first will be in there soon".

Booth rushed forward to Cam's room. For eggheads, they really didn't understand the concept of 'the short straw'. He had been chasing Angela down for the good first half of the morning, and then Cam sprung that she wanted a quick meeting in her room before Jason began. "Cam, Jason is in Ange's room", Booth announced as he entered, "Who is going first?".

"I suggested that Cam went first cos she is the boss", Hodgins told him.

"And I say Angela goes first because I'm the boss", Cam argued

"I think Sweets should go because he is the youngest", Angela smiled.

"It would be the most logical solution if Dr. Hodgins went first because he has the most knowledge on the matter", Sweets said standing up for himself.

Then, they all began arguing at the same time. Booth felt as if sometimes they had the maturity of toddlers. He took his fingers to his mouth and blew a loud sharp whistle. "Guys, why not just do Eni Minie Miny Mo?", Booth suggested.

"That could work", Angela smiled.

**Jack**

"So tell me Dr. Hodgins, what is your view on the Gormogons?", Jason started.

"I hate them with my guts", Jack said bluntly, "They were a crazy secret society which set out to destroy every other secret society by eating people's faces off. It was ludicrous if you ask me".

**Angela**

"Miss Montenegro, was there one moment throughout the experience that made your blood run cold?".

"Uh, quite a big one yeah", she immediately began to think of Zack, "Finding that one of your best friends is an apprentice to a psycho serial killer would turn your blood to ice too".

**Lance**

"Dr. Sweets, you regularly visit Dr. Addy to assess his mental condition. What is his state of mind right now in your opinion?".

"Dr. Addy follows logic. In his mind, when he joined Gormogon, he felt that his logic was irrefutable, so he followed it. It was a typical scenario of a strong personality, seeking out a weaker one. Dr. Addy's delusion, is that he isn't in one", Sweets told the man, "Everything else is under the protection of patient confidentiality".

**Camille**

"It has been a pleasure interviewing you Dr. Saroyan and I thank you for giving up your time. But before you go, could I ask you one more question?", Jason said as he shook her hand.

"Sure", Cam smiled.

"Is it okay if I come in on Friday evening to uh, have a photo shoot in the vault for my book?".

"Yes. There shouldn't really be much going on, so we can stay behind if you want".

"Thank you so much", Jason smiled, "I'll see you then".

* * *

**AN: Guys, I need your help. If you read something in here that doesn't follow the Night Fury chief and apprentice idea, please let me know. I have gone back and adjusted some things to make it all fit, but I don't know if I covered everything. I have nothing against North America, it just made the most sense to have the evil guy coming from there as there will be more reason for him to be evil if Brennan is chief in everyone else's eye. Also, just to clarify, Dai's prediction about Brennan staying or going is the Maluku islands choice, and the pain in work is the Gravedigger trail cos I have decided that this all happens before Witch in the Wardrobe. Please, fantasise all you want about the birth and let me know what you think it will be. It will be funny to see what you guys think and who actually gets it right. The next chapter is going to be huge! Wouldn't mind some help with names for the other chiefs, and possibly colony locations. Thanks for reading, and leave a review to tell me if you are liking it or not. Lots of love, Stitch**


	9. THIS STORY IS NOW DISCONTINUED

**THIS STORY IS NOW DISCONTINUED**

Hey guys. This was a hard decision, but I have lost interest, and have too many other fanfiction related commitments and I'm also suffering from the stress being caused by my exams at the present time. I will not be re-offering this up for adoptions as I have become too attached to Mandible to let her go to someone else. It took the pleading from my sister for me to not remove this, so you can thank her for me not removing this. She said that I had put too much effort into this for me just simply to remove it.

I have decided to though, tell you what the rest of the story was going to involve. Well, the basics anyway.

Brennan was going to go back to Washington DC, without Mandible. However, the dragon had other ideas and followed her.

After Mandible crashes into the Jeffersonian, a body is dropped onto the roof, and it carries a message to Brennan from the supposed chief of the North American colony. Who happens to be Jason Jenkins. He declares war on her, and they flee back to Berk, just as he launches an attack on the Jeffersonian, reducing it to rubble.

In Berk, the Squints, Booth and Sweets get paired up with dragons.

They then all lead on attack on Jason.

Team Berk wins, and Brennan is now officially chief.

It then ends with Brennan and Mandible flying off into the sunset, and Booth then jumping on his dragon and follows her back to DC.

I had planned also to do a sequel with Parker getting one of Mandible's kids as his dragon, and the trials and tribulations that follow.

Sorry for any disappointment caused, and thank you all for reading, reviewing, and putting up with me for so long. You never know, this may be continued in the eventual future, but there are no plans to do so at the moment.

Thank You.

Stitch54.


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